The Million Dollar Grant
by the7joker7
Summary: The Sailor Scouts are in the business of saving lives. They've always been repaid with nothing more than gratitude, until one of the lives they save feels they deserve more. So how do the scouts react to suddenly having their missions backed by more than willpower and love?
1. The Benefactor

The Million Dollar Grant

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The Sailor Scouts are in the business of saving lives. They've always been repaid with nothing more than gratitude, until one of the lives they save feels they deserve more. So how do the scouts react to suddenly having their missions backed by more than willpower and love?

.

So, I wouldn't precisely call myself a Sailor Moon 'fan', but I'm amused enough by what I've seen of the show and fandom, and I wanted to try my hand at a story. So with that in mind, here we go with a little idea I had recently. Forgive any mistakes with regards to canon that I make, again, not the most familiar with Sailor Moon.

I'm familiar (mostly) with the US Dub so I'll be rolling with that general backdrop, which means American terms and terminology. I'm going to add a couple of fun little powers and abilities to the sailor scouts, just for the sake of variety. Maybe a slightly more realistic take on Sailor Moon, depending on one's point of view.

Beyond that, I don't own any of this.

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Chapter One: The Benefactor

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**Uptown, March 29th, 11:13 PM**

Serena peeked over the edge of the building, laying prone on the concrete roof that covered the salon. An icy cold wind slid over her backside, and a similar chilly feeling struck her stomach as she spied an unexpected variable down below in the parking lot.

Frantically, she pulled the flat, rectangular communicator from her belt and put it up to her mouth.

"Hey, Ami?" she whispered into the device. The response was nothing but loud static. "Ugh...stupid thing!" she hissed, lifting the device up towards the sky. "Hey, hello? Can you hear me?"

Nothing but a grating buzz. Serena grunted, giving the device a shake. "Of course, always, whenever I actually need it. Hello? Can you hear me?"

She thought she heard a faint voice through the static, but couldn't hope to make it out.

"Stupid piece of garbage," she muttered, standing up and sticking the device up in the air. "Amy!"

The static died down a bit, but still no reply.

"Amy!"

"You're not supposed to use my real name when we're on a mission."

Serena grunted. "Fine, Am-Mars, we have a problem. The parking lot isn't empty."

"I checked an hour ago!" Amy squeaked. "What do you see?!"

"Just one car...black sedan..." Serena looked over at the solitary vehicle on the other side of the lot from her. "But the headlights are on, and I'm pretty sure the engine is running. So there's someone in there."

"Oh, lovely," Amy moaned. "Where in the parking lot?"

"Far side," Serena replied. "Up near the strip mall. We might be able to keep the action away from it."

Over the past two weeks, the scouts had made a habit of forcing all their night fights into a parking lot uptown, which provided parking for the customers of a dozen small shops. It was routinely completely vacated after 10 PM, which few people in the area, making it ideal to avoid eyewitnesses and collateral damage. After some trial-and-error, the scouts had worked out a nice system, with four scouts working to box the enemy in and force him towards the lot, while one staked the area out and waited to spring a trap when they arrived.

"But whoever's in the car will get a nice view of the entire fight," Serena added. "So if there's a hiccup, you know what to do."

"Nothing we're not used to," Amy said. "We'll just have to get out of there as soon as the fight's over."

"Speaking of which, how far out are you guys?" Serena looked around, seeing no obvious disturbances around her.

"Uhhh...actually, I sort of got separated from the other three," Amy said quietly.

"What do you mean, you got separated? Find them!" Serena demanded.

"What do you think I've been trying to do?" Amy said. "I got hit by a a wayward attack and didn't see what direction everyone went! I'm sure they've got it under control."

"You're lead strategist," Serena reminded her. "You're supposed to coordinate the fight. Who knows what could happen without you!"

"I know what I am, okay?" Amy said. "They're too busy fighting to answer the communicator, so I can't track them. I'd say...some time in the next twenty minutes, you'll be seeing them?"

"Oh, thanks so much, Amy," Serena deadpanned. "Twenty minute window. May as well use smoke signals."

"Don't get mad at me," Amy protested. "Sometimes plans don't go perfectly, we'll be fine! Just keep your eyes open."

"Fine," Serena said. "Make your way over here and help me set up containment. I have to go, my arm's getting tired. And once we're done here, I'll have a few choice words about these communicators."

She dropped back down into a prone position, eyes on the sedan as the seconds ticked by. She thought about Amy's words of advice in recent weeks about thinking tactically and how the proper usage of timing and resources could multiply the effectiveness of a plan many times over. She was hardly a seasoned pro at such things, but was working on it.

"Okay...if they come from the south, I can jump it as soon as they clear the Subway," she muttered to herself. "Maybe I could jam part of it into the sewer drain, isolate him in one position, away from the car...if it sees the car, it might attack it to try to distract us..."

She looked around, trying to come up with another part of the plan. Nothing sprung to mind.

"Cut off the field of vision...lesse here...cut off the field of vision..."

She saw a sandwich board for the nail salon on the sidewalk. Glancing back and forth a few times, she quickly descended down the side of the building.

"Wait until Raye sees this!" she said to herself as she picked up the sandwich board and moved it twenty feet down the sidewalk. "And I came up with it all by myself!" She positioned it so that a generally-humanoid figure with a foot stuck in the sewer would be unable to see the sedan across the lot, tweaking the position a little bit until she was satisfied.

"And Raye said I could never get you to start thinking tactically."

Serena spun around, Amy running down the street towards her.

"So, lemme guess," Amy said, looking at the little setup. "You jump the negaverse stooge right here, try to jam him in the sewer grate, and the sign blocks his sight of the car?"

"Oh, Amy. You read me like a poem," Serena said. "And did Raye really say that?"

"Like a million times," Amy said. "Okay, you get back up on the roof, and I'll hide behind those trees. I'll distract the stooge, and you'll use the distraction to jump it. We'll just have to hope it gets close enough for the trap to work."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Serena said. With that, she quickly scaled the building again, using the sewer pipe to get back up to her hiding spot. Amy took her spot behind the trees.

They waited, for maybe five minutes, Serena hoping the car might pull out and leave the area before the fight started. But it stayed there, engine mysteriously left on, headlights on.

And then, a crash came from somewhere down the street. Serena peeked over the edge of her hiding spot. It was go time.

Lita hurled a humanoid brown figure down the street, using a couple bolts of lightning to send it flying several dozen feet more. Just a little short of the trap point. Mina emerged from a side alley, smashing the full weight of her body into the alien creature. It sprawled out on the sidewalk.

It was working...just a few more feet and Serena could jump it...

Lita advanced menacingly on the creature, causing it to back up and try to scramble to it's feet.

"HEY!" Amy screamed, jumping out of her hiding spot, fists clenched and glaring at the creature. It spun around, head turned away from Serena.

She pushed herself off the building, painfully aware that missing would hurt a lot. But it couldn't have been set up any better. It was right next to the sewer drain, completely ignorant to her presence.

She hit the monster right in the back, knocking it flat, right next to the drain. She grabbed the thing's leg and roughly jammed it into the gap between the sidewalk and street. She shoved it all the way up to the thigh, or at least what might have been the monster's equivalent to a thigh. She brought her right arm back, cocking it and preparing a fierce punch.

Unfortunately, the beast seemed to be capable of altering it's physical makeup, at least somewhat, and quickly squeezed out of the makeshift trap. Serena's punch connected, but the creature wormed out from underneath her and jumped into a standing position.

"Drat!" she muttered to herself. "Am-Mercury!"

On cue, Amy covered the area in a dense fog. Hardly ideal, but necessary. It cut off vision both in and out of the fighting area.

The monster was confused for a moment, and didn't even see Raye leap in to slug it right in the face (or, more accurately, face area), her fist alight with burning flames.

The strange, brown, slimy stooge fell at Serena's feet. She thought it might have been weak enough now, and reached up to grab her tiara. But it's slimy arm reached out and grabbed the sandwich board before Serena could complete the process. The thing smacked Serena upside the head with the wooden slab, knocking her onto the sidewalk.

It spun around violently, board out, nearly smacking Mina in the face as she ran in. He used the distraction to grab her by the collar and throw her violently into Lita. Raye was barely able to dodge another violent swing of the advertising board.

Serena got to her feet, and the monster turned towards Amy. Serena noticed it holding the sign like a frisbee, and immediately put two and two together. Her mind worked with speed that she only wished she could maintain during an exam. Amy would have no problem dodging the attack, there was plenty of time for that...but, although she wasn't the best at math, it looked like the cruel fates had positioned the two perfectly so that the attack would just so happen to be launched right at the black sedan.

The sandwich board suddenly started to glow a bright yellow in the creature's hands. Serena took off in a flash towards the car, her first idea would have to suffice.

She didn't bother trying to do the math on this one as she beat a trail towards the car. Amy had once told her that, in sailor form, she was capable of foot-speed of around 40 miles an hour. It would depend on the sandwich board's velocity.

She bent down slightly, reducing wind resistance, halfway to the car. She heard a little _fwip_ from behind her, then a small shriek from Amy. The bogey was out.

As she approached the car, she quickly tried to process a plan. She could throw herself into the car, trying to knock it out of the path of the projectile, but there was no guarantee it would be enough to move it enough, or that she wouldn't just knock it into the path of it, or that her collison wouldn't hurt the person in the car as much as the board would. The windows were all closed, and the doors were shut. She could break the window, but would run the risk of hurting the person inside with the shards. She was about to accept that risk, when she saw a tiny wisp of smoke dancing up from the top of the car.

The sunroof! It was open! It was the best way, and in an instant she had leaped on top of the car, boots denting the roof. She reached her right hand down into the car, eyes quickly scanning the interior. Just one person, a man, at the driver's seat, who was just starting to react to the thud on his car's roof.

She grabbed him by the collar and whisked him out through the sunroof, lit cigar falling out of his hand and down by the pedals as she yanked him up. As soon as he was clear of the roof, she jumped off the car, looking down just in time to see the sandwich board slice neatly through the car and emerge out the other side. It may as well have been a laser, and would have decapitated the man just a second sooner. No one would notice the dents in the car roof, given the massive section of metal and glass that had been carved out of the doors.

She spread her body out and put the very confused man on top of her, so her body would cushion the impact with the asphalt. It would hurt a bit, but she'd live, something the non-powered human in her grasp might not be able to say.

Hands still on his collar, she jumped to her feet and leaped into a bush next to a Comic Book Store, a few feet from the ruined car.

"You okay?" she asked quickly, setting him down on the sidewalk, forcing him into a prone position.

"Uh...yeah-" he replied slowly. That was all she cared to hear.

"Stay down until this is over!" she instructed, launching herself back towards the fog barrier, feet almost leaving little imprints in the concrete with every step.

Fortunately, the situation had gotten much better since she left. The monster was on the ground, head pin between Lita's powerful thighs, a suffocating chokehold. To add injury to insult, she was pumping thousands of volts of electricity into the creature, until it started to smoke and stopped struggling.

No time for ceremony, Serena ripped off her tiara and flicked it at the monster as Lita swung herself up, vaporizing it.

"Phew!" Serena said, running over to pluck her tiara back up off the ground. "Okay, not a perfect takedown, but all things considered we did okay!"

"And the...the witness?" Amy asked, pointing her thumb in the general direction of where the sedan was.

"He's alive," Serena said. "Saw a little more than I would have liked, but we'll be okay."

"Witness?" Raye asked, watching the pile of dust that the monster had left slowly melt away into nothing.

"We had an unexpected night-owl across the lot," Amy said. "But if we leave now he'll probably think this whole thing was a dream."

With that, the sailors sped away, the fog dissapating, leaving no evidence of their presence or fight outside of a displaced sandwich board and an utterly destroyed E Class Mercedes Benz.

Or so they thought.

"

**Serena's Bedroom, March 30th, 12:08 AM**

"Oh dear, Serena," Luna said as the girl collapsed onto her bed. The feline immediately jumped up next to her and surveyed the rapidly reddening welt on her cheek. "That's not looking good."

"Oh really, Luna? Because it feels great!" Serena moaned, glaring at her advisor.

"What happened?" Luna asked, leaning in to glare at the injury.

"Smacked upside the face with a sandwich board," she groaned, putting her hand up to the welt. "Things didn't exactly work out like we wrote it up."

"Probably wouldn't have happened if you didn't insist on taking me out of the field," Luna said disapprovingly.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot, you have magic...sandwich board...proof...powers," Serena said. "You're too valuable to put in the field. You wouldn't have been able to do anything."

"I'll go get some ice," Luna offered, jumping off the bed.

"If you wake my parents up, I'm going to have a world of explaining to do," Serena warned. "How are you going to get ice anyway?"

"I'm more capable than you know," Luna countered patiently.

"If you want to help me, how about you fix these stupid communiators?" Serena said, reaching down towards her belt, plucking the pink rectangular device off, and setting it down on the bed next to her. "They don't work when I need them too, you can't use them in combat-"

"Well excuse me, Serena, the technology is a thousand years old!" Luna said, nose up in the air.

"Yeaah, I'm just gonna let you think about that line of reasoning for a few minutes," Serena said, standing up. "I can get my own ice."

"And if...no, sorry, _when_, you wake your parents up?" Luna asked.

"I'm a fake-sleepwalking pro," Serena said, walking over to the door. In a quick flash of dull colors, her sailor outfit was gone, and Serena was back in a casual green t-shirt and tan shorts.

She was about to leave the room when a dull thud from behind caught her attention. She spun around, arms up, but saw nothing.

"Uh...Serena..." Luna said slowly, eyes down at her feet. She looked down, eyes finding a small android cell phone right in front of her toes. The screen was black, a tiny green light blinking at the top. She bent down to pick it up. "That's not yours, is it?"

"Uhhh..." Serena said, thinking back to the events of that night. The sedan, the speeding sandwich board, a split-second decision to reach in and yank the driver out of harm's way...a cigar in one hand, he definitely dropped that into the car, she was sure of that...maybe a phone in his other hand? It had all happened so fast, she couldn't be sure. She tried to recall the events...yes. There was a phone. In his other hand. Maybe his grip hadn't let it go as quickly as he did the cigar. Maybe.

But had he let it go during the chaos that immediately followed? And had the device gotten stuck somewhere in her uniform? Maybe the boot? Maybe the belt? She surely would have noticed...although there was an awful lot going on...maybe it could have happened without her noticing.

"Oh...dear," she said, looking the black screen over with trepidation.

"

**Cherry Hill Temple, March 30th, 4:02 PM**

"You stole his phone?!" Raye asked, holding the android device up in her right hand.

"No, idiot!" Serena shrieked, hands curling into little fists at her sides. "It just sort of...fell into my-"

"Nice going, Winona Ryder!" Raye said, smacking Serena on the back of the head. "I know you're frustrated with the communicators, but this-"

"I. DIDN'T. STEAL. IT!" Serena shouted. "It fell in my boot when I was saving his life!"

"Enough with the blame game," Amy said, stepping between the two and holding her hands out. "We have to figure out how to get it back to this guy."

Mina rubbed her hands together. "Okay, okay...lemme see." She pulled it from Raye's hand. "Maybe we can figure out who it is by..." she clicked the button along the side, but her face immediately fell. "Password protected. Amy, crack it." She handed the device to her.

"Wh-no!" Amy said, refusing to take the device. "I'm not hacking into someone else's phone!"

"Hey Serena," Raye said, smirking. "Maybe you could go steal the password."

Serena scowled, hands shaking. "I-"

"Maybe we could go to the lot and get the license plate number from the car?" Lita suggested, trying to remove the fuse between Raye and Serena.

"They've probably moved it by now," Amy said quietly, hand up to her chin in thought. "You wouldn't happen to remember it, would you?"

Serena shook her head.

"Too bad you didn't steal that too!" Raye said. Serena lost it, pouncing on Raye and knocking her to the floor. One hand around Raye's neck, she made a fist with her right hand and cocked it back.

Just before she drove her fist into Raye's forehead, there was a light knock at the door to Raye's room. Everyone froze, Raye pushing Serena off her with a little thud.

"Shh!" Amy said, putting her index finger up to her mouth. "You expecting any visitors, Raye?" She whispered.

Raye shook her head in response.

The five glared at the dark imprint of a human figure standing at the door, vague shape visible through the paper walls. Lita tiptoed over to the door, looking for some way she might be able to peek out at the visitor without the visitor noticing. But there wasn't any option for that.

She examined his shadow against the wall. It looked like he was carrying something very large in his left hand, some sort of bag maybe. She took in a deep breath, grabbing the edge of the sliding door cautiously.

She looked over at the four girls, who all nodded. She pulled the door open a foot, reached out, grabbed the person by the wrist and yanked him into the room.

Serena gasped as he came into view. Last night had been a blur, and she didn't completely trust her judgement, but this guy sure looked an awful lot like the man she had saved the night before. She glanced at Mina, still holding the device in her right hand, then back to Lita, who had pressed the man face down into the floor, forcing him to drop what ended up being a massive silver suitcase on the floor, and wrenching his left arm behind his back and twisting it, planting her right bare foot against his shoulder for good measure. She shut the door with a loud thud.

"You have sixty seconds to explain yourself before I break your arm in eight different places!" Lita hissed as her unfortunate victim grunted in pain.

"LITA, NO!" Serena shouted, running over and grabbing her much larger friend. "It's okay, let him go!" Lita looked at her, not quite really to trust the intruder. "It's...it's his phone," Serena said quietly, pointing over at Mina.

"Oh, really?" Lita said. "This the first place you come to look for it, buddy?" She looked down at her prisoner. "Awful convienient, I'd say."

"Ugh," he grunted. "There's a tracking device in the phone."

"Come on Lita, let him up," Mina said, walking over towards the two, holding the phone out in her right hand. "He just wants his phone back!"

Lita reluctantly took her foot off his back and let him go, eschewing the courtesy of helping him to his feet.

"That's, uh...that's quite a finisher," he said uneasily to Lita. She gave no reply as Mina handed the phone to it's rightful owner. They finally got a good look at the visitor. He was very well dressed in what must have been a tailored suit, and was cute enough, though at least a decade older than the five girls, with short black hair. He dusted himself off and took the phone from Mina. "Thank you."

"Yeah, uh...really sorry about...last night," Serena said uneasily, scratching the back of her head. "Running into each other on the street like that, I had no idea that your phone-"

"Save it," he said, voice silky smooth. "I remember last night quite vividly." He bent down to pick up his suitcase. "Although I can't make much sense of it, I remember it."

Amy hung back, hand up to her mouth, staring at the visitor and looking as if she was deep in thought.

"What I can make sense of, miss, is that you, somehow, saved my life," he pointed at Serena. "The details, I don't know, and I'm not going to ask you to fill me in."

"U-uh, I don't know what you're talking about," Serena said, waving her hands in front of her.

"I'm not here to ask questions, don't worry," he said comfortingly. "It's better I don't know exactly what happened last night, I think. But I know enough. And I also know that I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for you." He stared at Serena with icy blue eyes. "And so, miss, that's why I am here."

"N-not to get your phone back?" Serena said uneasily, pointing at the breast pocket where he had deposited the device.

"I could buy a thousand phones if I wanted to," he said. "The phone is nothing." He chuckled. "I'm here for compensation purposes."

"Wait," Lita said, pointing at the visitor. "If you're here between you tweaked your neck when Serena was saving your sorry ass and you want to sue for damages, I swear to God I will put you in the ground-"

"Not at all," he said, smiling. "I just think the life of Daniel Tillerson is worth more than one android cell phone."

Amy gasped, jaw dropping open. Raye put her hand up to her chin.

"Wait...Tillerson, why do I know that name?" Raye mused. "Tillerson..."

"Ever been in a gas station?" he asked.

Raye gasped, realization smacking her right in the forehead. "Oh my _god!_"

Serena shrugged. "Calm down Raye, it's not a big deal. Gas stations are everywhere."

"Yeah, Serena-"

"Seriously, on every street corner," she added.

"Yeah, idiot, and his-" Raye pointed at Daniel "-father owns, like, _all _of them!"

"What?" Serena deadpanned, staring at the suddenly not-so-mysterious visitor.

Daniel took a small bow. "Son of Rex Tillerson, CEO and Chairman of ExxonMobil, at your service, ladies."

"No way!" Raye gasped.

"Yes way," Daniel replied, then cleared his throat. "In any case, Miss...Serena, was it? Yes, you disappeared before I could arrange anything, so it's good fortune that you happened to abscond with my phone."

Serena said nothing, voice catching in her throat.

"Now that we're here, I can settle the situation," he said, getting down on his knees and putting the suitcase down in front of him. He turned it to face her, reaching forward towards the clasped.

And then, Lita pounced on him, slamming his head into the floor and pitting it there with her right palm. She reached over with her left to grab his wrist, twisted it up into the air and raising it towards the ceiling.

"Not so fast, Danny-boy!" she said, squeezing him into the floor.

"LITA!" Serena cried, mouth agape. "GET OFF HIM!"

Amy finally moved from her spot in the back of the room, running over to Lita and grabbing her shoulders. "Lita, please, get up!" She tugged on her shoulders. "Please stop antagonizing the nice legacy child, who could have a dozen S.W.A.T. teams descend on us at any time and kill everyone we ever loved!"

Lita slowly twisted Daniel's arm back into a comfortable position, not getting up.

"Come on Lita, you don't want to mess with him! Do you have any idea how much revenue ExxonMobil had last year?" Amy said, trying to pull her up. Lita was not so ready to be trusting.

"No, actually, I don't," Lita replied.

"Like...four hundred and fifty three billion-" Daniel started, voice muffled by the carpet.

"Shut up!" Lita instructed. "All I know, is that is a big suitcase, of unknown origin and content! It could be a bomb, or poison gas, or...snakes, or...spiders, or-"

"Lita, come on," Raye said. "Why would he do that, get off him before you hurt him."

"If he wanted us dead, we'd already be dead," Serena agreed, grabbing Lita underneath the shoulders. "Now come on!"

Finally, she relented, releasing him and standing up. Amy quickly bent down next to him, hand on his shoulder.

"I am -so- sorry about our friend, she's...uh, fasting right now. Edgy," Amy lied.

"It's okay," he said, sitting back up. "I'm...actually pretty aroused right now." An awkward pause followed.

"Sooo, the suitcase?" Serena said quickly.

"Right," Daniel said, reaching over to grap the clasps again. The girls all crowded around, looking down as he unbuckled the flaps and pulled the top open.

As one, all five girls gasped as the contents of the case were revealed. It was more money than any of the five girls had ever seen, in person, at one time before. And that was just what they could see. The entire massive suitcase was packed to the brim with green bills, bearing the likeness of Andrew Jackson and with the number '20' in all four corners. The money was all tied together in little bundles. Forget the couple thousand dollars that the girls could see, the untold riches right underneath must have been more than any of their parents could reasonably expect to make in a year! A few years, even!

They stared in silence for several seconds. Daniel stood up, folding his arms over his chest. Slowly, Serena reached out, as if in a trance, and grabbed one of the bills. She lifted it up, the rest of the small bundle coming with it. She flipped through slowly, every bill a twenty. The little paper band that held the bunch together said, in cursive writing '$1,000', same as all the other bands.

"I thought twenties would be more appropriate," Daniel said. "Anything larger tends to be suspicious."

Raye reached forward, almost not daring to believe what she was seeing, and dug her fingers into the side of the suitcase. She pulled up several bundles, peering down. Sure enough, there were more bundles of cash underneath, going all the way down to the bottom of the case.

"This...this must be a...a..." Serena said quietly, holding the bundle up in front of her. "Must be a-"

"One million," Daniel finished for her. "Give or take a twenty. I told the secretaries to count fast, mistakes happen."

"Oh my..._god_," Lita muttered, sticking her fingers into a gap between the cash in the middle of the case, peering down into her self-made little gap to spy cash going all the way down to the bottom.

"Again, I'm not looking for answers, but I highly suspect you, and your friends, are engaged in some sort of...cosmic battle that I can't hope to comprehend," Daniel said. "Perhaps you can take this payment as a grant to further your efforts." He looked around the room. "No offense meant, but it doesn't seem to be a rather...low-budget operation."

No one said anything.

"Or you could just...buy jewelry, or cars, or start a college fund, do whatever. Up to you," he turned towards the bedroom door. "It's best we don't come into contact with each other again.

"W-wait," Amy said suddenly, springing up and walking over to Daniel. "Mister Tillerson, thank you so much for the incredibly generous offer, I really mean that." She walked between him and the door, holding her hands out in front of her. "But...we've been able to carry out our goals and intentions for many months now without money, and to be completely honest, it's was our-"

_Fwap._

In record time, Raye had grabbed one of her bed pillows, run over to Amy, and slammed it across her face. She tackled her to the floor, holding the pillow over her face, muffling her speech. Amy struggled against Raye's weight, but it was hopeless.

Raye put her face up to the pillow, whispering harshly. "You shut your mouth, got it? You shut your mouth and you never, ever open it again!"

"I-ignore her, she's the...stupid one of the group," Serena said, coming up next to Daniel and patting him on the back. "Well, thanks so much, it was great meeting you, you have a wonderful day!"

"And I'm so sorry about the...shoulder thing," Lita said, coming up to the other side of Daniel. "I am just a terrible judge of character."

"Don't worry about it," he said, sliding the door open and letting himself out. "I'll see myself out."

He shut the door behind him, and Raye removed the pillow from over Amy's face. Amy coughed a few times, her face red.

"Do we understand each other, Amy?" Raye asked.

"Selfish human nature aside," Amy said, worming out from underneath Raye and getting up into a sitting position. "I'm right, and you four know it, even if you won't admit it. We don't need money."

"Need?" Serena repeated. "Who said anything about need?" She fell back to her knees next to the suitcase. "We-"

_Thud!_

Mina, who had been silent since the briefcase had been opened, finally gave her opinion on the whole matter by fainting right on top of the cash pile.

"Yeah," Lita said weakly. "Yeah, that kind of...sums it all up."

Suddenly, the door was pushed open a couple inches and the girls jumped. Lita threw herself on the cash pile, trying to cover it up with her large body. Raye made a leap for the door, trying to shut it before anyone could enter. But before Raye could get there, Luna scampered into the room.

"Right, so, I've spoken with my contacts, and the communicator problem can-" Luna started, but froze as soon as she actually took a moment to look around the room. Four girls staring at her, not moving a muscle. Mina unconscious, Lita laying on top of her, and a couple wads of cash visible from underneath Lita's body.

Slowly, Luna approached Mina and Lita, Lita trying to move her legs up to hide evidence of how much money there really was, but it was no use. Try though she might, Luna quickly got the picture that, for reasons she couldn't even begin to imagine, there were several thousand dollars, if not much more, on the floor of Raye's bedroom.

"Oh," she said in a monotone. Raye shut the door. "Oh. Oh, _no_."


	2. Painstaking Planning

Chapter Two: Painstaking Planning

"

**Cherry Hill Temple, March 30th, 4:39 PM**

"I didn't even know cats could faint,"

Slowly, Luna cracked open a single eye, coming to stare directly at Serena's face. Serena was kneeling down in front of her, fanning her with a small throw pillow.

"Ugh...okay, I'm awake," Luna muttered, forcing herself into a standing position. "And beginning to realize that that wasn't all just a bizarre dream." She looked at the suitcase of money. "Please, please, please, please, _pleeeeaasssseeee_ tell me this is a practical joke, and that's actually just a pile of novelty kitty litter," Luna said. Lita had pushed Mina's unconscious body off the suitcase of cash, exposing the true depth of the sailor's newfound wealth to Luna.

"Nope," Serena said. She was now kneeling down next to Mina, trying to shake her back into the world of the living. "That's the genuine article. Briefcase full of dough."

"Oh, dear," Luna moaned, looking down at the ground. "Just...just be honest with me...I promise I won't get mad, just tell me the truth. Which is it? Drugs or prostitution?"

"What?!" Serena exclaimed, dropping Mina back to the floor. "Neither!"

"Then who did you kill?" Luna said, resignation in her voice.

"I thought you knew me better than that!" Serena huffed. "It just so happens, Luna, that this money was a gift!"

"Just...tell me which bank you stole it from, Serena. Please."

"What is it with people accusing me of stealing things today!" Serena shrieked, jumping to her feet. "For your information, I saved a guy's life last night, and he rewarded me with this!"

"And I'm supposed to believe that tale?" Luna said, looking down mournfully at the money. "Please, Serena, you're in enough trouble without lying."

"Actually, Luna, I can vouch for her story as one hundred percent accurate," Amy said. She was laying prone on the bed, face down, Raye seated on top of her back, keeping her pinned. Lita was seated on the back of Amy's legs.

"...oh." Luna looked up at Serena, who looked decidedly miffed. "...ah...well, I suppose that..." she looked down at the ground, guilt clouding her features.

Serena chuckled. "Yeah, I'll bet you feel like a dick now."

"S-so you're not mad?" Luna asked hopefully.

"I can't get mad about anything today, Luna. I have a million dollars!" With that, Serena unceremoniously bellyflopped onto the cash stack, laughing maniacally to herself as she rolled around on top of the bills.

"Wait a minute..." Luna looked up at the three girls on Raye's bed. "Why are you two laying down on top of Amy?!" Luna jumped up onto the bed, leaning in right next to Amy's head. "Are you under duress to agree with Serena's story?" she whispered.

"N-no-" Amy replied.

"That's exactly what you would say if you were under duress," Luna rasped, glancing up at Raye. "So was it drugs, Amy?"

"No, it-" Amy started, but Luna quickly cut her off.

"That's exactly what you would say if it was drugs."

"Luna, I-"

Luna leaned in closer to Amy. "If it was drugs, blink twice," she asked.

"Oh no, Luna, she's telling the truth," Raye chimed in. "And nothing but."

"Then why are you two sitting on our lead strategist?!" Luna asked.

Lita put her right hand down on Amy's ankle. "Well, it's just...ever since we got the money, Amy's just been acting a little crazy, saying some really..._wild_ things. And we were worried she might go and do something stupid if we didn't keep her under wraps."

"Yeah, just the _craaaziest_ stuff. Like, maybe, donating all the money to a charity, or dumping it in the river, or burning it, just...insane asylum type ideas. Aaand we just wouldn't want anything like that to happen." Raye leaned down close to Amy's face. "Would we, Amy?"

"Make them get off me," Amy said, looking over at Luna hopefully.

"I'm a cat," Luna replied.

"Amy can get up any time she wants," Raye said, lacing her words with menace nonetheless, "just as soon as she promises that she won't be doing anything..._unwise_ with our money."

"There are a lot of angles to be considered!" Amy insisted. "There's no such thing as money with no strings attached! There is real danger with us trying to use that money! Heck, we're in danger just by having it! All things considered, I really think the best way to handle this would be to-"

Lita picked her feet up off the floor, thereby placing her full body weight onto the back's of Amy's thighs. "I'm sorry, Amy, I must have something stuck in my ear, that _really _doesn't sound like any kind of promise to me."

"Ahh!" Amy grunted, squirming back and forth underneath her two friends. "Getoff! Getoff!"

"Hmm, must be something in my ears too, Lita," Raye said. "Because I could just _swear_ I don't hear a promise right now."

"Okayokay!" Amy shrieked. "I promise! I promise!"

Lita put her feet back on the ground, but didn't get up. "Promise what?"

Amy sighed. "I completely promise to not...do anything with the million dollars without talking to you guys first about my intentions."

"Was that so hard?" Raye asked, standing up. Lita followed suit, allowing Amy to roll off the bed.

"Oww," Amy moaned, rubbing her back. "With friends like these, who needs the negaverse?"

"Well, sorry, you were talking crazy," Raye insisted. "I mean, setting a million dollars on fire?"

"Okay, maybe that was slightly rash," Amy admitted, sitting up on the floor. "But-"

"Whooooopwhoopwhoopwhoopwhoopwhoop!"

Everyone looked over at Serena. She was now laying on her back, on top of the money, doing the backstroke in the air.

"Serena!" Luna cried. "Knock off that...whatever that ridiculous noise is! Amy is trying to tell us something important! Pay attention!"

"Ooooooohhhhhh..." Mina suddenly moaned, trying to push herself up from off the ground. "Guys...I just had the weirdest hallucination. Some guy gave us, like, a million dollars."

"Uhhhh..." Serena looked down at the money pile underneath her. Quickly, she scooped a few wayward money bundles into the suitcase, closed it, and sat down on top of it. "Well, that's what happens when you sniff glue, Mina."

"Serena!" Luna snapped.

"Okay, fine," Serena said. "Mina, that...actually happened." She scooted herself off the suitcase, turned it towards Mina, and opened it.

"Oh my GOD!" Mina shrieked, fighting the urge to faint for a second time. "No way!" A giant grin broke out on her face.

"I know, right?" Lita said, walking over to the suitcase. "A rainbow should come out every time you open it." She bent down and picked up eight of the bundles in her hands. "I could redo my kitchen with this-"

"No!" Amy cried, standing up to her full height and puffing out her chest slightly. "Listen to me! No, you can't!"

"Yeah, you're right," Lita admitted. "I wanna add the breakfast nook, gonna run me at least five figures-"

"Nobody is redoing or adding anything!" Amy said, swinging her hands around in front of her, a rare scowl on her features. "There are some real complications here! We could get in a lot of trouble if we don't think about this!"

"Oh, Amy," Serena said, bending down and placing her palms down flat on top of the cash. "Only you could make a million dollars sound like such a curse."

"Think about it, Serena," Amy said. "We are five fourteen-year-old girls, and five fourteen-year-old girls are not supposed to have a million dollars in cash in a suitcase!"

"Uh, I think you're off by about...four fourteen-year-old girls there, Amy," Serena pointed out.

"Wh-"

"This is _my _money," Serena said, standing up and pointing down at it. "I saved the guy, and he pretty much gave the money to _me_. You four were just...there."

"Serena!" Luna said. "Shame on you!"

"_However_, being that I'm incredibly nice, charitable, and generous, I have a proposal," Serena said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I take half, and you four split the other half."

"Are you really that selfish?!" Raye snarled, leaning in towards Serena and making a fist with her right hand.

"Apparently," Serena said, shrugging.

"No!" Amy cried again, darting over to Lita, grabbing all the money out of her hands, throwing it back into the suitcase, knocking Serena's hands off the money, and closing it. "No, no, no, no, no! Nobody is taking any money!"

"Wow," Serena said, raising an eyebrow at Amy. "Speaking of selfish-"

"Look. I promised I wouldn't get rid of the money, and I'm going to keep my promise." Amy tried to pick the suitcase up off the floor, but found it to be too much for her thin arms to heft. "But, in light of the delicate nature of this entire thing, I suggest..._insist_...that I be placed in charge of managing the money."

"Or, better yet, maybe you could try to go save your _own_ billionaire?" Serena said, watching Amy try to lift up the suitcase.

Amy dropped the suitcase handle. "Serena, listen. We're fourteen years old, which means we can't open bank accounts and we can't open credit cards. You try to buy things with bundles of twenty dollar bills, and people start asking questions very quickly. Also, most purchases leave a paper trail, and the moment the IRS sees that we're spending a lot of money that we shouldn't have, they're going to find out where that money comes from." She grabbed Serena by the shoulders, eyes wide. "So, please, let me be in charge of handling this! It's the only chance we have to do this safely! Please!"

"I second Amy's suggestion!" Luna said enthusiastically.

"Huh," Raye said quietly, looking down at the suitcase. "Guess I never really...thought about all the legalities of spending money." She raised her hand in the air. "I third Amy's suggestion."

"Yeah, I...gotta say, if anyone can come up with a way for us to use the money, it's her," Lita said. "Okay, maybe this is a little more complicated than I thought. Fourth."

"Yeah, well, too bad for you guys that my vote counts for, like, a billion votes, what with it being my money, and me being the leader!" Serena said, jabbing a thumb at herself.

"Serena..." Lita said in a singsong voice.

"What?" Serena said. "Don't you know what leader means?"

Lita grabbed Serena's right arm and lifted it up in the air, making a fist with her off-hand. "Don't you know what black belt means?"

Serena gave a little groan. "Okay, _fine_. Amy, you can be in charge of the money."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go with that too," Mina added.

"Well I guess that's that," Raye said, coming over to pat Amy on the shoulder. "You're calling the shots."

"Thank you," Amy said.

"Sorry I sat on you," Raye said guiltily.

"It was pretty uncalled for," Amy said icily, walking towards Raye's bed.

"If it makes you feel any better, my butt's kinda sore now," Raye offered.

"It doesn't," Amy said. "Lita, if you would be so kind, on the bed."

Lita stepped forward and easily scooped up the briefcase in one hand, hoisting it up and setting it down on the middle of the blanket. Amy looked at it, then turned to the other four scouts.

"First of all, and this is important. This money does not belong to you-" she pointed at Serena, "-or you-" she turned her finger to Raye, "or you-" her focus went over to Lita, "or you-" she gestured at Mina, "or me." She jabbed her thumb at her chest. "It belongs to us. Which is why that this money is not to be spent on the individual, any of us, but only on the group. This money is the sailor scout's money, to be used to further our campaign against the negaverse, and combat evil. Furthermore, due to the delicate nature of us trying to use this money, we will be using it only in carefully planned ways, and only when needed."

Lita raised her hand.

"Yes?" Amy prompted.

"Yeah, that sounds fantastic and all, and I endorse it, but...where does that put me at with my kitchen?"

Amy sighed, then buried her face in her hands. "Lita, I just said only when needed-"

"Well, I _need_ to redo the kitchen," Lita insisted. "Seriously, the previous tennants used saltillo tile! Do you have any idea how porous that stuff is?"

Amy gave a tiny growl that wasn't at all like her. "Okay, you know what?"

"It's...terrible for a kitchen-"

"I think we're all feeling just a little...avaricious right now...some more than others...probably something to do with seeing a million dollars in a suitcase. So I say we all get to our respective homes for the rest of the evening, settle our minds, and come back tomorrow after school, focused on buzzwords like generosity, rationality, and frugality." Amy sat down on the edge of the bed. "Meeting ajourned."

"Okay, fair enough." Serena walked over next to Amy. "I'll get my school bag, and you can load me up."

"Load you up?" Amy repeated.

"Yeah, my cut," Serena said.

Amy sighed again, putting her right hand up to cover her eyes. "Serena. Please. I am exhausted and I have a lot of planning to do tonight. We just agreed that I was in charge of managing the money-"

"Yeah, you can be in charge of managing the process of scooping Jacksons into my bag," Serena said.

"Serena-" Amy started.

"Look, I heard everything you said, and you're completely right. Completely! I get it, I swear. But, and I think I'm speaking for everyone here when I say this, we work _hard_. All of us! We sneak out late at night, we lose sleep, our grades suffer, and we have less relaxation time. So, yes, I agree that you're the most qualified to handle the money, but I think it's fair that a portion of the reward go into our pockets for...personal expenses. You know, a little...treat for all the hard work we've done!" She looked over at the other three scouts, thinking she might have seen a glimmer of agreement in their eyes.

"Yes, Serena, we work hard," Amy said, hand still covering her eyes. "That's not the point. The point is, if you, or any of us, doesn't treat the situation very carefully, we're all going to get in an unthinkable amount of trouble."

"Yeah, Amy, I get it. I can't go buy a house, or a car, or a diamond necklace. Yeah, no problem, that's fine. But, frankly, I think there are some...things...that I deserve to be able to have, and should be able to get with our money. I mean, it's not like you need the entire million to do whatever you're thinking about, right?" Serena shrugged.

Amy dropped her hand, crossing her arms over her chest, frowning. "And what, exactly, are you proposing you get...'loaded up' with?"

"Well...I mean, I don't have the exact values on the top of my head, but...I mean, I _did_ save the guy, so I think fair would...be...you know, fifty thou?"

Amy smacked herself in the forehead with her right hand, covering her eyes again in exasperation.

"What?" Serena said. "How much money does your plan need?"

"What are you going to buy with fifty thousand dollars?" Amy said, voice drained.

"I'm not going to spend it all at once!" Serena huffed. "I'm not even going to spend all of it! You know, keep some hidden away at home for a rainy day. And to rub on my face. Maybe roll around in-"

"Serena-"

"Look, there are some things that I want, okay!" Serena said. "I'm sure there are things that you all want too, and we deserve them!"

Amy heaved a great sigh, then looked up at Serena. "Let's do a little role play, Serena. Okay?"

"Uh...sure?" Serena shrugged.

"You just be yourself, and I'll play the part of your mother." Amy cleared her throat. "It's a brisk thursday afternoon, and I've just returned from shopping at the fresh produce store downtown. Upon arriving home, I decide to check in on my daughter, ask if she had a good day at school, make sure she's doing her homework, ask her if fish sounds good for dinner, that sort of thing. So I go down the hall, forgetting to knock, and enter my daughter's bedroom. And what should greet me but a sixty-five inch ultra high-definition television with 7.1 surround sound, plugged into a brand-new blu-ray player!"

"Hm, I like this role play-" Serena started, but Amy cut her off.

"Estimated value, four thousand dollars!" Amy said.

"Really?" Serena put her hand up to her chin. "Only four grand? May as well make it a seventy-eight inch-"

"SO, my jaw drops open in shock. I stare at the television for a few moments. And then, I gather my thoughts, and I ask the million dollar question." Amy put her hands on her hips and glared at Serena. "Where, my dear daughter, did you get the money for this?!"

"Oh," Serena said, looking up towards the ceiling. "Well...uh...I-"

"Time's up!" Amy said. "Sorry, Serena, you lose. But we have some lovely parting gifts for you, such as getting grounded for the next five decades, house cleaning duties for the rest of your life, and let's not forget being kept on a strict diet of brussel sprouts and oatmeal until you confess to where you got the money from!"

"Okay, okay. I get it," Serena said. "No televisions, fine, but-"

"That's just one of a billion different scenarios that could ruin us!" Amy said. "You don't have any source of income, meaning your parents know exactly how much money you have. A single inexplicable purchase, and everything unravels. It could be a video game, a movie, a pedicure, heck, you could order a pizza at the wrong time! So, until I come up with a comprehensive plan, nobody is spending a dime!"

"Pretty sure there aren't any dimes in that suitcase," Serena said.

"Oh, for the love of God, Serena, just go home!" Raye walked over to her bed.

"Yes, please," Amy agreed. "So, for now, the money stays here-"

"Wait, why?" Serena asked, glaring at Raye.

Amy sighed. "A, because I don't want anyone to have to carry a million dollars in cash around town. B, because Lita's the only one who can lift it."

"And C, my grandfather doesn't wear his glasses ever, so even if he did see it he'd just think it was my homework," Raye added.

"Right," Amy agreed. "Raye, I'll just assume that nothing will happen to the money while it's in your custody?"

"On my honor," Raye said, raising her right hand in the air.

Serena scoffed. "Yeah, that and a dollar will get you four quarters."

Raye glowered at Serena.

"Okay, fine, I'm going home!" Serena spun around.

"

**Serena's Bedroom, March 30th, 10:55 PM**

"It's a good thing you weren't there today, Artemis!" Luna crowed, the pair of cats seated up on the desk as Serena paced around her bedroom. "I had the grave misfortune of witnessing our supposed leader's conduct this afternoon!"

"Luna, I said I was sorry!" Serena cried. "And I am!"

"The things she said, Artemis! I had never seen such a thoughtless and selfish display in all my nine lives! You'd never be able to respect her as Sailor Moon again! I myself may have some problems with that moving forward."

"Luna, come on, you've known me for awhile! You know that's not me!" Serena frowned to herself. "It's just not every day someone gives you a million dollars in cash! So, yes, I did some things and said some things I shouldn't have, and I admit that. But most humans would have done the same thing after getting a giant pile of money thrown at them!"

"I don't mean to pile on, Serena," Artemis started. "But you're not most humans. You are Sailor Moon, champion of justice and love. So we expect more from you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not _just_ Sailor Moon. I'm also a human being. And there's this thing called human nature, and part of that is acting a little...greedy under certain circumstances. You wouldn't understand, Artemis."

"Why not?" Artemis asked.

"Uh, I just called it _human_ nature?" Serena said, raising an eyebrow at the stark white cat.

"...and?" Artemis prodded.

"And, you're a _cat!_" Serena said.

Artemis stared at Serena for a second, then looked over at Luna. "Did she just race card me?"

Luna gave a little exasperated sigh. "Just...go to bed, Serena. Please?"

"Fine, fine," she relented, pulling her shirt up over her head.

"And if I were you, and I was going to apologize for my conduct today, I'd say there were some other...humans who might deserve one more-"

"I get it!" Serena said.

"

**School Lunchroom, March 31st, 12:15 PM**

"Why if it isn't my favorite lead strategist!" Serena said loudly, setting her blue tray of food down on the lunch table next to Amy's. Amy was sitting there, eyes red and head resting on her right palm.

"Ugh. What do you want, Serena?" Amy said, her voice lower than usual.

"To apologize for my behavior yesterday," Serena said earnestly.

"Oh," Amy said, glancing up at her friend. "Well-"

"And to say that I completely endorse you managing the...reward," Serena added, glancing around at the other students. "Seriously, nobody's better equipped to handle it than you. You're gonna do great."

"Well, thank you, Serena," Amy said, giving a small smile.

"You look really tired," Serena said sympathetically. "How'd brainstorming go?"

"Oh, I have a...few good ideas, I think," she said. "I think we might be able to pull this off."

"

**Cherry Hill Temple, March 31st, 3:58 PM**

"But only if we all co-operate and stick to the plan," Amy said, holding a thirteen-inch tablet up in her petite hands.

"Which we will," Serena said, standing up from her seat on the bed and coming over next to Amy. "Because we all support you and believe in you one hundred percent, behavior yesterday nonwithstanding."

Raye looked down at the ground. "Yeah, I guess I got carried away too. I'm sorry, Amy."

"Yeah, I'll second that," Lita said begrudgingly. "I just got swept up in the...craziness. I apologize."

"I'm gonna have to apologize too," Mina said quietly, eyes downcast.

"You didn't do anything," Amy said comfortingly, walking over to Mina and putting her hand on her shoulder. "You were unconscious most of the time."

"Yeeeahhh..." Mina said uneasily. She reached down her shirt and pulled out a thousand dollar bundle, handing it to Amy. "I...may have snuck this out in my bra last night."

Amy snatched it out of Mina's hand, a disapproving cluck of her tongue as she walked back over towards the suitcase on the bed.

"I felt really bad right after I did it!" Mina said.

"Right," Amy said, dropping the bundle on top of the case. "Now then. We, as a group, have proved perfectly capable of at least keeping up with the negaverse without funds. So, we have to carefully consider practicality and rationality when using this money." She did a couple finger swipes on her tablet. "I think the most obvious consideration would be injury expenses. Our battles are undeniably getting fiercer, and it's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt. I also think that it would be sensible to set up a sort of...life insurance policy, as a consideration to our families."

"Starting off pretty morbid there," Lita said.

"Yes, but I think it's a real concern, even if nobody wants to talk about it," Amy replied. "I'd like to at least set up some sort of fund there. I'm currently putting together some paperwork that should help that process. I do think that we could use an influx of new equipment, maybe improve some of the stuff we already use. I'd like to get a new computer system set up, improve the system of knowledge distribution, and redo our entire intel and recon strategies. And I believe I know where to start with regards to all that. And finally, money growth. We will almost definitely never have another opportunity like this again, so the longer we can make this money last, the better. I've put together several hypothetical plans that I believe can produce good growth with minimal risk."

"Sounds good to me," Raye said, peeking over Amy's shoulder at the tablet screen.

"Of course, there's one snag in all of this," Amy said. "As fourteen-year-olds, we won't be able to do any of this by ourselves."

Serena had sat down on the desk chair next to the bed, leaning back and putting her feet up on the desk. "Okay, so what do we do about that?"

"I think we need to bring another person in on this," Amy explained. "Not just any person, mind you. The right person. Not only do they have to be old enough to legally handle this, but they have to be someone we can at least partially trust to not double-cross us. Someone who has handled fairly large amounts of money in the past, so it won't look too suspicious when they buy stuff for us. Preferably, someone with some money sense, who could help with the growth side of things. Someone who could be bought off, at least partially. And of course, someone who won't ask too many questions."

"Right. So, no parents," Lita mused. "Not any good parents, at least."

"I'd say leave family members out of this entirely," Amy agreed.

"Any candidates?" Serena asked, looking at Amy.

"Yes, one...but you may not like it," Amy said uneasily.

"Oh, don't tell me-" Serena groaned, putting her hand up to her forehead.

"Tell you I shall," Amy said, turning the tablet out towards the group, showing them all a headshot of a familiar young man. "Darien Shields. At this time, nobody fits the profile better."

"Ugh. Darien," Serena muttered. "Douchebag Asshole Rat...In...Eastern..."

"Douchebaggery nonwithstanding-" Mina chimed in.

"...uh, Nerdtown," Serena finished.

"He might be our best bet," Mina admitted.

"You guys wanna bring Darien in on this?" Serena grunted, taking her feet off the desk and propelling herself into a sitting position. "Seriously?"

"The alternative may be nobody can touch the money until we turn eighteen," Amy said.

"Look on the bright side, Serena," Raye said, a small smile spreading across her face.

"And what might that be, Raye?" Serena asked, scowling.

"Just imagine the look on Darien's face when he finds out that you have a million dollars in a suitcase," Raye said.

"Ooooh," Serena mused, hand on her chin. "Yeah, he'll _hate_ that!"

"So, before we dig into serious details about my plans, we should make sure that we have a reliable contact on board," Amy said. "So, we need to bring Darien in on this, and we need to do it in a very specific way."

"You know, this might actually be fun," Serena mused, an evil little smirk on her face. "Can I tell him?"

"Actually, yes," Amy said, swiping the tablet screen and handing it to Serena. "Here's the playbook for how we get him to bite. I think if we reel him in like this, he'll go for it."

Serena read the small text on the tablet, face brightning with each line. "This sounds like fun, actually!"

"Wait, why her?" Raye asked. "They don't even like each other."

"Which makes her perfect for...intriguing him," Amy said, a naughty little smile on her face. "So, Serena, do you think you can do that?"

"Oh, yes," Serena said, handing Amy the tablet back. "Yes, I...I think I can do exactly that."

"

**Arcade, March 31st, 5:11 PM**

Serena stepped through the automatic doors, looking around at the various customers manning the various game machines. She looked over at the counter where Andrew was working, and saw Darien sitting up on the right side, back turned to her, milkshake on the counter in front of him.

"Ah ha!" she said quietly. She pulled her cell phone out from her hip pocket and quickly placed a call in to Amy. "This is gonna be so great!"

"Yes, Serena?" Amy's voice came in through the tiny speaker.

"The eagle is in the nest," she said quietly.

"...I don't know what that means, Serena," Amy replied.

"I found Darien in the arcade," she replied.

"Well, then why don't you just say _that_?" Amy asked.

"Because...because you're no fun," Serena replied. "I'll let you know how it goes."

She marched over to the counter, taking a seat on the far left, turning her back to Darien and hunching over slightly. He hadn't seen her yet, she didn't think.

"Oh, hey there, didn't see you come in!"

She glanced up to find Andrew standing there, holding an empty milkshake glass in one hand and wiping it with a dishtowel in the other.

"What can I do you for, Serena?" he asked.

"Just a favor today, Andrew," she replied, still turned away from where Darien was sitting.

"Shoot," Andrew said, setting the glass down on the counter.

"Alright, listen carefully," she said, leaning in slightly. "Is there anybody in the supply closet right now?"

"Uhhh...no," Andrew replied uneasily, eyes glancing over towards the hallway behind him that lead down to the staff section of the building. "Why-"

"Okay then," she said. "After we're done talking, I'm going to get up and go to the supply closet. After I leave, I need you to go to Darien and tell him to meet me there, right now, alone."

"Ummm...well, first of all, the supply closet is locked-"

"Which is why you're going to give me the key to it," Serena said, holding her little palm out towards him.

"Second, I'm not supposed to let customers in there-"

"Yes, but you're going to make an exception here, because you know me, and you trust me when I say that this is very important," Serena interrupted.

"And third, that's...no way to ask a guy out," Andrew finished. "Just go up to him and say what's on your mind."

"I'm not asking him out!" She hissed through gritted teeth. "Look, Andrew, I can't tell you everything, but you need to trust me. This is very, _very_ important. Like, life-and-death. So, I need you to let us in the supply closet, and make sure nobody is listening to us."

"Oh," Andrew said, giving a little smile. "I get it." He chuckled to himself.

"And that includes you," Serena added. "Promise me."

"Scout's honor," Andrew replied. "Darien will be there in a minute." He handed her a small silver key, and she quickly pushed herself out of the chair and strode down towards the back hall.

Andrew made his way down the counter slowly, eyes on his longtime friend, who was still nursing the milkshake while he was checking his cell phone.

"Hey buddy," Andrew said, coming up next to him. "So, get this. Serena wants to talk to you."

"Wow. Today must have been really crazy, how'd I not notice," Darien mused to himself. "Apparently the apocalypse happened and I'm the only man left on earth."

"I'm standing right here, y'know," Andrew said. "Anyway, she's waiting for you in the supply closet, and wants to talk to you right now."

"Seriously?" Darien asked, putting the phone away. "Wow, is it already opposite day?"

"Come on, Darien. She kinda made me promise," Andrew said sheepishly.

"Heh. Made you," Darien said. Nevertheless, he stood up, straightened his jacket and took off on a brisk walk towards the hallway behind the counter.

The supply closet was the first door on the left, so Darien didn't have much time to think about the nature of this situation. The door had been left ajar, so he pushed it open and strode in. Serena stood in the center of the small room with full shelves, lit only by a single bare lightbulb, arms crossed over her chest.

"Weird place to try to make out with someone, Meatball Head," Darien started.

"Close the door," Serena instructed. Darien obliged, clicking the pins into place.

"I don't kiss on the first date," Darien said, crossing his own arms over his chest. "But you're welcome to beg me to take you out for dinner. I'll even pretend to think about it for a second before I say no."

"Shut up," Serena demanded, letting her arms go to her sides. "Now, I have a proposition for you."

"Do you even know what proposition means?" Darien asked, leaning up against one of the shelves.

Serena gave a little rattled sigh, but maintained her composure. "Or, more accurately, me and my four friends have a proposition for you."

"Uh, wow," Darien said, raising an eyebrow at Serena. "Forward. Not really the _menage a trois_ kind of guy, sorry-"

"Not _that_, you ass!" Serena huffed.

"Well, either way, I'll just save us both the time and tell you I'm not interested in junior high garbage, so whatever you and your friends are getting up to-"

"As it happens, _Darien_," Serena interrupted. "Me and my friends have...come into a sum of money, and we require assistance in...handling it."

"Heh," Darien chuckled. "That's adorable, really, but I'm not helping a group of teenage girls invest the eighty dollars they got for their birthdays." He turned around, hand reaching towards the doorknob. "I have more important things to do."

"Well, I suppose it's no surprise you're not man enough," Serena said. Darien's fingers paused on the knob. "It is a rather dangerous proposition."

"Yeah, you know what's dangerous, Serena?" Darien turned around and pointed at the blonde girl. "Your obsession with me."

"Darien-"

"Seriously, Meatball Head, call Kenny Loggins, because you're in the Danger Zone," he jabbed his index finger at her. "You know. From _Top Gun?_"

"Shut up!" Serena snapped. "D...D...Darien...Darien Douchebag! Listen, idiot, we'll be expecting you tomorrow, at the Cherry Hill Temple, at four o'clock sharp!"

"Well, too bad, I'm not helping a bunch of teenage brats invest their allowance money," Darien said, turning back to grab the doorknob. "Maybe your daddy will get you a roll of nickels if you ask nicely."

"Oh, you'll be there," Serena said, hands on her hips.

"And why's that?" Darien asked.

"Because of this," she said, reaching down towards the pocket on her left side. For a split second, Darien had the crazy idea she was going to pull out a gun, but then a wad of paper emerged from the fold of her uniform. She tossed the stack of small paper slips at Darien. He caught it reflexively in his right hand.

He looked at the paper stack for a second. It was a bundle of twenty dollar bills, tied together with a paper band that said '$1,000' on the front. Darien finally fell silent, staring at the bill on the front for several seconds, then slowly reaching his left hand up to flip through the stack of nearly identical bills.

"What is this?" He asked slowly.

"That's for you," Serena said, index finger up in the air and a grin on her face. "Now, if you'll excuse me-" she walked forward, trying to push past Darien to get to the door.

"Hey, wait," Darien said, grabbing the doorknob before Serena could. "I don't want your life savings, Meatball Head." He thrusted the money towards her. "Now, listen to me-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Serena said, smirking up at a highly confused Darien. "It's yours! Please, for your own sake, go buy a new jacket!"

"Serena. I'm not playing your games, I'm being serious here." He put the wad of cash up in front of her face. "Now, be honest with me. Where did you get this from?"

"Nuhuh," Serena said, wagging her finger. "You gonna have to play my game if you wanna find out. "

"Serena, I don't want it!" Darien said, thrusting the money into her chest. All traces of humor and fun were gone from Darien's voice and expression. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but I'm not taking a thousand dollars from a teenage girl!"

Serena took the bundle in her little fingers. "Okay, your call." She flipped the bills over her shoulder, sending the little bundle of cash down to the concrete floor. "See ya later!"

"Serena!" Darien cried as she grabbed the doorknob and twisted it open.

Serena shrugged. "I don't want it. Toodles!" She strided out of the room, swaying her hips just a little more than necessary, waving at Darien over her shoulder.

Darien stared at where her back had been for several seconds, blinking stupidly. He looked down at the cash stack, then bent down and picked it up. He fished one of the bills out from the center of the stack and stared at it. He held it up to the light and stared at it, looking at the security band. He looked at the serial number. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill of his own. He felt his, then felt the other.

He repeated the process three times with a randomly selected bill. And every time, he couldn't even find so much as a hint of forgery. If these bills were fakes, then they were extremely good ones.

"How?" he rasped to himself, palms starting to sweat a little bit. He kept staring at the stack, hoping that it might suddenly disappear and this would all end up being some sort of joke.

His mind spun, trying to justify this. He didn't know Serena's father, but he was fairly sure he worked a pretty typical job, certainly not the kind where you could give your teenage daughter wads of cash that she could throw away. Sure, she probably had some sort of allowance, as most teenagers did, but certainly not enough for her to just throw a thousand dollars around like it was a bunch of tissues. And he almost never failed to see Serena dumping quarters into a machine or sucking down milkshakes at the arcade, so she'd be the last one to save her allowance anyway.

He bent over, going down to one knee, hand on his forehead. It was...just _impossible_! He started to suck in deep breaths. Nothing made sense. He had to keep himself together. He needed-

"Uhh...you okay there, chief?"

Darien spun around. Andrew was standing at the threshold of the door, concern on his face.

"What did she _do _to you?"

Quickly, Darien shoved the money into his inside jacket pocket and spun around. "N-nothing! Nothing. I'm fine." His face was covered in sweat. "I just...I just need to use the bathroom." He walked out of the storage room.

"Oh. Ooohhhh, I get it," Andrew said, grinning.

"Shut it," Darien said, pointing at his friend. Andrew locked the door and Darien slowly walked up the hall.

No. There was a perfectly reasonable explanation. Maybe her father had just received a bonus at work and had given her some of the bounty. Maybe she really _had_ been saving a bit of money over the years. After all, arcade machines weren't exactly pricey, and the milkshakes here were pretty cheap. She was probably getting guys to buy her food and gifts all the time. Lord knows...uh...some guys...probably found her very fetching.

A thousand dollars really wasn't _that_ much. He made a thousand dollars every week of work, and he wasn't even very well established in his industry! Sure, he didn't exactly feel great about the idea of throwing one thousand of _his_ dollars on the floor and walking away, but then again, he wasn't a stupid teenage girl.

He chuckled to himself as he went into the men's bathroom. It had been a nice little joke, but nothing more than that. She was probably hyperventilating right now, hoping that he would bring her money back tomorrow. Well then, fine. He would. Cherry Hill Temple, four o'clock tomorrow.

"Stupid girl," he muttered, smirking yet again as he splashed water up onto his face.


	3. Hook, Line, Sinker

Chapter Three: Hook, Line, Sinker

"

**Cherry Hill Temple, April 1st, 3:59 PM**

"Oh, he'll be here," Serena said, smirking over at Raye. "You should have seen him babbling after I showed him that money." The five scouts were all positioned around Raye's bedroom.

"Well, I've made sure we won't have to worry about anyone coming around for the next hour. Grandpa's doing rituals," Raye said.

"Just let me do the talking," Amy asked. A small table had been moved into the center of the room. Amy sat at the far end, and there was an empty chair on the other side. The silver suitcase was laying down on the table, closed, and Amy had a bookbag at her feet. "I'm confident we can remain in control of this situation." She looked down at the bucket next to Serena's feet. "You know what to do."

There was a light knock at the room's door. Mina slid the door open, revealing Darien in his green jacket and black pants. He was scowling, hand inside his jacket, and hadn't taken his sunglasses off.

"Good afternoon, sir—" Mina started, but was cut off when Darien stormed into the room and walked up to Serena, whipping the money bundle out of his jacket.

"Very clever, Meatball Head! You actually had me going there for a few hours!" He threw the money bundle at her, it landing in her lap. "But guess what I saw this morning when I checked the calendar?"

"Oh, yeah...April Fools Day," Serena mused. "Hm. Funny coincidence."

"Yeah, I'm sure!" Darien said. "A lesser man would have just kept the money."

"There's a lesser man than you?" Serena said dryly.

"SHUT UP!" Darien snapped. "Something is seriously _wrong_ with you, go get your head checked!" The dark glasses gave him an added air of menace.

"Oh, Darien," Serena said condescindingly, picking the money bundle up. Amy caught her eye, making a subtle little flicking motion with her thumb. "How little you know."

"I know that you made me waste my time coming over here today!" Darien shouted. "Oh, and I expect this sort of stupidity from Serena, but you four I had more respect for. Had." He turned towards the door, reaching out for the little knob.

Serena pulled a small gold device from her pocket and flicked the lid open, making a little ping noise that echoed through the air. Darien turned his head around to look at her. She was holding a little zippo, thumb on the flint-wheel igniter. She snapped the lid shut with a quick flip.

"Well golly gee, Darien, I gave the money to you. But if you don't want it, and I don't want it—"

"Don't make me laugh, Meatball Head!" Darien smirked, folding his arms over his chest. "That's a thousand dollars, or perhaps more interesting to you, four thousand Sailor V games, or two hundred milkshakes, or two hundred and fifty cheeseburgers, or a hundred pizzas! You'd cut your fingers and toes off before you do that. Don't try to fool me with your ridiculous bluffs!"

Darien started to turn around again, but froze as Serena flipped the zippo back open and put her thumb on the wheel.

"I—"

She snapped her thumb on the wheel, causing a small flame to jump from the spout at the top.

"—never—"

She moved the bundle of cash to right above the flame, letting the fire dance on the edge of the bills for a second before it caught fire. Darien's mouth fell open slightly.

"—bluff."

She held the stack of bills in her hand for a couple seconds as the flames quickly engulfed it, turning the green slips into black chars. She let the flames dance down close to her fingers, then she dropped the flaming stack into the tin bucket next to her feet. Darien stared at the flames dancing right above the rim of the bucket, mouth wide open. Slowly,his sunglasses slipped down his nose and tumbled off his face, landing on the carpet.

He walked over to the bucket and looked down at the cash, speechless and mouth still hanging open. Slowly, the fire ate away at what remained of the money until there wasn't anything left but unrecognizable, and certainly no longer valuable, black ashes.

"...I...I—" Darien sputtered.

"Do I have your attention, Darien?" Serena asked. She motioned towards the empty chair in front of Amy.

Darien spun around, stomping over towards the empty seat, face red and eyes wide.

"Okay, that's just enough with the games!" he shouted, hands shaking. "What, the _hell_, is going on here?!" He pounded his fists on the table.

"Calm down, Darien." Amy put her elbows up on the table, sitting up straight and head held up like a professional. "I assure you, all is well."

"Yeah?" Darien snarled. "Okay, fine. You girls win. I give up! Uncle! Now, what's going on?"

Amy motioned towards the suitcase. "I think you'll find your answers in there."

Darien looked down at the case. The clasps were pointed towards him. With shaking hands, he reached out towards them. Part of him acknowledged that there might have been a bunch of spring snakes in there and he was about to make himself look so stupid he'd be tempted to move out of the country. But he was way too curious to stop now. Caution to the wind, he unclipped the clasps and slowly pushed the suitcase opened.

He gave a little strangled scream after laying eyes on the case contents. Stacks and stacks of twenty dollar bills filled the entire case. Amy sat there, steepling her fingers in front of her face, watching Darien with a flat expression.

Darien gaped, mouth opening and closing like a fish who had been taken out of water.

"Cat got your tongue?" Serena asked, trying and failing to hide a giant grin that just couldn't be kept off her face.

"

Inside the closed closet, Luna and Artemis were sitting with their ears to the door, listening to the conversation intently. Artemis blanched.

"That's an offensive phrase," Artemis whispered, looking over at Luna.

"Artemis—" Luna hissed.

"I mean, what would I do with someone's tongue?"

"Could you shut up with it?" Luna said warningly.

"...I don't see how—" Artemis mused.

"Shut up!" Luna said.

"

"T-that's...that's..." Darien started to muttered, a dribble of drool about to drip off the side of his mouth.

"Still with us?" Amy asked, waving her little hand in front of his eyes.

Darien suddenly snapped out of it, looking up and wiping the drool off the side of his mouth. "That's a really elaborate little prank, _girls_, but I wasn't born yesterday!" He stuck his nose up in the air and gave his infuriating smirk, folding his arms. "It takes more than that to fool Darien Shields!"

"Whatever do you mean?" Amy asked innocently.

Darien reached forward and grabbed one of the money bundles from near the middle, pulling it off and putting it on the desk in front of him. He pulled the top bill off of the stack, holding it out flat in front of him.

"You girls know how to put together a nice prank, but let's just see what Mister Security Thread has to say about this!" Darien said, started to sound frantic. He lifted the bill up, looking at the features of the bill in strong light.

And so he stood there for a few seconds, looking at the water mark. He finally dropped his gaze, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a twenty of his own. He examined both bills closely, feeling the texture on both.

"Very good," he said, shoving the bill back into it's bundle. "Well, any half-decent counterfeit money prank puts some real ones on top," he said, sticking his fingers down the side of the case and plucking out one of the bundles from underneath. "But let's just see how long it holds up."

Darien examined this one too, all the girls watching him carefully. He went over this twenty. And another. And another. In all, he examined nine bills, his face falling with every single examination. Finally, his body was shaking too much for him to check the bills, and he dropped his hands to the table in defeat, panting for air and face beet red.

Serena would never, ever forget the look on Darien's face. He looked ready to cry.

"...I...I..." Darien choked out. He shoved his fists into his lap, trying to stop his hands from shaking. "H-h—"

"Are you alright?" Amy asked, her voice still soft and lilting as if there was nothing irregular going on.

"B...bathroom," he managed to get out, standing up shakily and walking towards the door with wobbling knees.

"Turn left and it'll be the first door to your right down the hall," Raye said. Darien grabbed the door handle, pulled it open with weak arms, stepped out, and then slid it shut behind him.

Immediately, he keeled over, sticking his head inbetween his legs and sucking in a giant gulp of oxygen.

"Ohmigod, ohmigod," he muttered, whole body still shaking, half out of shock and half out of anger. "How? _How_?"

He shook his head. "D-don't throw up, don't throw up, don't throw up..." he panted in and out. "I...am in control...of my body...I...am master...of my body."

"We can see you through the walls!" Raye yelled out. Darien jumped halfway to the ceiling.

"And hear you! Idiot!" Serena added. "Ha!"

Darien stumbled off towards the bathroom, mumbling to himself.

"

"Did you _see_ the look on his face?!" Serena shrieked into her hands, eyes filled with unabashed glee. "Ohmigod, this is the best day ever!"

"Never thought I'd see Darien shaken up." Raye nodded. "Not a great look for him, I gotta say."

"He's been in the bathroom an awful long time," Amy said worriedly. "I know you guys are having fun, but we still need his help."

As if on cue, the bedroom door slid open, and Darien stood there. He was still a little crimson in the cheeks, and his hair wasn't right thanks to all the sweat, but he had stopped shaking and had a look of determination on his face. He stomped over to Amy's little makeshift desk, putting his hands down on the table.

"Alright then," Amy said. "Now listen—"

"No!" Darien shouted. "You listen!" He pointed at Amy. "I don't know what you girls have gotten yourselves into, but you have no idea how much trouble you could get in!"

"How about we worry about that, Darien? Now, Amy has a proposal for you to listen to," Serena said evenly.

Darien walked over to Serena, towering over her. "Serena. Listen to me very carefully. I know we've had our differences. I know." He kneeled down in front of her. "But listen to me. That's not what this is, I swear it. This is for your own good. Whatever you and your friends are doing, you're going to get in trouble. You might get hurt, or worse. I'm telling you this as a...human being who doesn't want to see another human being get hurt. This isn't worth it."

Serena was knocked off her rails for a second. She had to admit, he _sounded_ genuine. From his perspective, this probably did look extremely suspicious, and she could understand where he was coming from.

And then, she was back in the moment. This hilarious, glorious moment that she would remember forever and would comfort her on nights when she was feeling a little down.

"Sorry, Darien," she said coldly. "But you know nothing about us."

"These monies were acquired via entirely legal methods," Amy added. "Believe what you will, but that's the truth."

"Oh, really?" Darien said, going back over to the chair and sitting down. "And what, pray tell, were those methods?"

"Can't tell you," Amy said.

"And why not?" Darien prodded.

"Because that's _our _business, Nosy Parker!" Serena snarled.

"The method by which we got that money is irrelevant," Amy said curtly. "What is relevant is the prospect of a mutually beneficial relationship between us and you, Darien."

"Oh, really?" Darien said, leaning back in the chair, still scowling.

"What we need, Darien, is the right person to assist us in financial matters. None of us are old enough. We need a partner. And we'd like to offer the opportunity to you." Amy folded her arms.

"Oh yeah?" Darien said. "You trying to bring me down with the rest of you?" He stood up from the chair. "Because forget it! I'll happily watch from the sidelines as you five idiots end up in juvy for doing...whatever it is you're doing!"

"Very well, Darien," Amy said nonchalantly. "There's no shortage of legal adults in this city. If you're not the right one, then we'll just have to keep looking."

"Amy, I know you to be a pretty smart girl," Darien said. "What are you doing, throwing in your lot with this? You have a very bright future ahead of you, and you're going to blow it all—"

"I might be worried about that if we were doing anything illegal," Amy said. "But we're not, so I'm not. Your concern should be yourself, Darien, and how you might just be walking away from some very easy money. And I'm talking several thousand dollars."

Scowling, Darien stared at Amy for several seconds, then down at the money.

"Of course, you're entirely welcome to decline," Amy continued. "Just turn around, leave, and we need never speak of this again."

"I have a better idea," Darien said. "How about I go on down to the police station and tell the nice officer that there are five teenage girls with a million dollars in a suitcase?"

"Go right ahead," Amy said, her voice even and flat. "But I promise you, the police will be unable to find a speck of evidence that even comes close to indicating that, and you'll have to explain to the police why you're wasting their time with bizarre and improbable stories about a group of teenage girls with no criminal record."

Darien blinked a few times. "Okay, fine!" He reached forward, shutting the briefcase and picking it up. "Then how about I take this down to the station and see what they have to say then?!"

Amy shrugged. "I've made quite sure they won't be finding any of our fingerprints on that case or the money, which will leave them with a young adult holding a million dollars in a suitcase and making bizarre and improbable accusations against a group of teenage girls with no criminal record. Your funeral."

Darien leaned in towards Amy's face. "Then maybe I just go throw this in a trash compactor! How about that?!"

"I suppose you could do that," Amy said, still calm and unfazed.

"Oh dear!" Serena said, faking distress. "I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to my money!"

Darien turned to look at her. "Yeah, well—"

Serena reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny black square device, a single red button on top.

"Just as I'm sure you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your car."

Darien froze, looking at the tiny object in Serena's hand. Her thumb was poised over the red button.

"Do you expect me to believe that—"

"Explosives are pretty easy to make, Darien," Serena said menacingly. "Particularly when you have a teenage genius helping." She glanced over at Amy. "It's not much of a charge, but given that your car is loaded with gas, it should be more than enough to leave it beyond any hope of salvage."

Darien kept his hand on the suitcase handle, grabbing his right hand with the left to keep it from shaking. "You—"

"And, speaking of teenage genius, we've also taken the liberty of planting some evidence to indicate self-arson, so not only do you lose your car, you get to go explain attempted insurance fraud to a judge." Serena leaned back in the chair, tiny device still in her right palm.

"Heh," Darien said. "You'd do that to me? Absurd. You don't scare me, Meatball Head."

"Oh, really?" Serena said, standing up and slowly advancing on Darien. He stared at her, mouth open slightly. "You sure seem awful convinced I did something really..._terrible_ to get that money."

Darien gave a sideways glance to the money, cogs in his head cranking.

"I mean, that's a million dollars, Darien. You'd have to do something really awful to get that kind of money, right?"

"Uh..." Darien gulped.

"Well, don't worry Darien. I did nothing bad to obtain that money, and typically, I wouldn't hurt a fly." Serena raised the device up next to her face. "But if you continue to try to separate me and my friends from our money, then you leave me no choice."

Darien looked down at the suitcase in his hand. "You...you wouldn't do that to me—"

"One thing you should really know about me by now, Darien." Serena held the device towards him.

"I—"

Darien's eyes bugged open wide as Serena poised her thumb over the red button.

"—never—"

She brought her thumb back slightly, getting ready to stomp down on the little plastic nub. Darien's mouth fell open.

"—blu—"

"NO!" Darien hollered, letting the suitcase go and putting both his hands up in the air next to his head. "No. It's okay, Serena. Be cool, be cool." He slowly sidestepped away from the suitcase, keeping his hands raised in the air. "Nobody has to get hurt, nobody has to do anything crazy. Okay. We're okay. We're cool."

"Now that we understand each other," Amy said. "How about the proposal?"

"Are you kidding me?" Darien said. "You almost blow up my car, and now you want me to go in on a deal with you?"

"I think I have some paperwork for you to sign that could...dispel...much of this distrust between us two," Amy offered, pointing down at her book bag.

"Yeah, well..." Darien turned around and went towards the bedroom door. "Forget it. I don't need this kind of drama in my life. I don't need money _that_ badly."

"Alright then," Amy said. "Then we'll be moving on in the interview process."

Darien's fingers paused on the little knob for the door. "Last chance, girls. Tell me the truth, tell me what's going on, and I'll do everything I can to help you get out of this."

"Run along, Darien," Serena said.

Darien glowered at Serena for several seconds, then pulled the door open with a frustrated grunt. He took one step into the threshold of the doorway, then heard a violent crunch underneath his shoe.

He jumped, looking down to find the crunched remains of his sunglasses. He went a deeper shade of red, then gave a strangled little scream before marching out of the room.

The five girls waited in silence, hearing his dull footsteps down the hall. None of them said or did anything, their ears perked up. The front door slammed shut, and the very faint sounds of footsteps on gravel could be heard. Finally, a car engine started, and the rattling hum of Darien's car pulled away from the temple.

"WOOHOO!" Serena screamed, jumping to her feet and going nearly halfway to the ceiling. "Ohmigod, this was the best day EVVVEEERRR!"

"So waitaminute," Lita said, pointing at Serena. "Did you seriously put a bomb on his car?"

Serena laughed maniacally. "No!" She pulled the little black device out. "I got this in a happy meal like ten years ago! I don't even remember what it does!"

"Did you see his face?!" Mina gasped, collapsing to the floor in hysterics and pounding it. "I wish I could have taken a picture!"

"That was totally worth burning a thousand dollars!" Serena shouted, thrusting her fists up into the air. "It would have been worth ten thousand!"

"Yeah, as fun as that was, we have a problem," Raye pointed out. "He didn't agree to help us."

"Oh, but he will," Amy said, standing up and stretching her back out.

"What makes you so sure?" Raye asked.

"I'm not all math and science," Amy explained. "I study various fields of psychology as well, so I know just a little bit about what makes people tick. And a guy like Darien, he's not going to let this go. Even as we speak, as he drives back to his place, I assure you his brain is positively burning with curiosity. He can forget about sleeping a wink tonight, and then it's just a matter of time."

"And the sunglasses?!" Serena said. "Just the perfect capper!"

"In fact, Serena, I think there's a good chance he'll try to reach out tomorrow," Amy said, looking over at the blonde. "I'd imagine he'd try coming here first."

"So should we stake out here all day waiting?" Raye asked. "Because I don't know—"

"No," Amy replied. "The situation isn't secure until Darien signs those papers. We have to maintain complete control of the situation until then, which requires knowing when the parties are going to show up." She pointed at Raye. "You are to instruct your grandfather to tell Darien that you aren't home should he come by, and we should move the money."

"Got it," Lita said, giving a little salute at Amy. "My apartment's empty and ready to hide some cash."

"So, after the temple, he's probably going to go to the one place where he reliably sees you," Amy continued. "And tomorrow's a saturday, meaning he could end up doing this at any time."

"Sooo...you're asking me to stake out the arcade until Darien shows up?" Serena asked, rubbing her hands together.

"Yes, that would be best, I think," Amy said, nodding. "Yes, just hang around there until he comes in. When he does, tell him to show up here on Sunday, one o'clock. We'll tie off the loose ends and be ready to go."

"Hmmm," Serena mused. "Y'know, Amy, wouldn't you say it's true that it's rather suspicious to hang around in an arcade all day unless you're playing games or eating food?"

"Yes, Serena, I would." Amy sat down at the foot of the bed.

"And...would you also agree that this arcade stakeout qualifies as sailor business?" Serena asked.

"Certainly."

"So, being that it's sailor business, Amy, wouldn't it be fair to utilize sailor funds to—"

"Serena!" Raye snarled, advancing on her. "You—"

"Actually, Raye, hold up," Amy said, holding her hand out towards Raye. "She's...actually right."

"W-what?!" Raye sputtered. Serena gave a gleeful little giggle.

"Her spending the day at the arcade is indeed sailor business," Amy said, walking over to the suitcase and popping it open. "And she will have to spend money to conduct that business in a reasonable manner. It wouldn't be fair for her to have to use her own money." She whipped a pair of twenty dollar bills off the top of one of the bundles, pausing to make a little mark on the paper band that held the slightly-shrunken wad before turning to present the bills to Serena.

Serena took the bills gratefully, grinning from ear to ear.

"But...but Amy!" Raye insisted, walking up to her. "S-she—"

"Now, now, Raye," Amy said reasonably. "Fair is fair. It's necessary for our operation."

"S-she would have spent all saturday at the arcade anyway!" Raye shouted, turning to scowl at Serena. Serena stuck her tongue out at Raye in response.

"Raye, drop it," Amy demanded. Raye crossed her arms over her chest, frown so big it threatened to yank her mouth right off her face.

"Best day ever CONTINUES!" Serena shrieked, doing a high step dance around the bedroom with the two twenties held up towards the ceiling.

"Oh, don't worry," Amy said as Raye tried to bore a hole in Serena's chest cavity with her glare. "I'm sure there will be opportunities for all of us to be a little...frivolous with the money."

"And I gotta say," Mina added, watching Serena continue her hyperactive jig, "she certainly deserves something for that brilliant little number she put on Darien."

"

**Arcade, April 2nd, 3:12 PM**

Arms down by his sides, hands balled into large fists, and shoulders hunched, Darien slowly walked through the automatic doors at the entrance of the arcade. It was pretty busy, the weekend crowd really starting to hit it's peak. He looked around the sea of bodies, trying to spot the distinctive hair style.

"Oh, hey buddy!"

Darien turned his head to the left. Andrew stood there, holding a banana milkshake in a glass in his right hand.

"Not used to seeing you here on the weekend—" Andrew started, but stopped dead after looking at Darien's face. His skin was very pale, his eyes were bloodshot, and his hair wasn't even close to it's usual maintained self. "Uh...Jesus, man, you okay?"

"Is Serena here?" he asked. His voice was low and flat, barely audible over the sound of patrons around them.

"Y-yeah, by the Sailor V game," Andrew answered. "W-wait a minute, are you..." he leaned in towards Darien, staring at his face. "Oh my god, dude!" A sly grin crept onto his face. "She has got a _spell_ on you—"

"Shut up," Darien said, pointing his index finger up right underneath Andrew's chin. "Shut. Up. I am in no mood."

"Okay, okay," Andrew said, grinning. "I can see that."

Darien took one step towards the Sailor V terminals, but Andrew grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Whoa, whoa!" Andrew cried. "Slow down there!"

"What?" Darien monotoned.

"Trust me, Darien, you do _not_ want her to see you looking like that," Andrew said.

With a little snarl, Darien violently spun back around, 'accidentally' knocking his shoulder into Andrew as he did so. Andrew was knocked back and dropped the milkshake, which crashed to the floor as Darien walked away.

Andrew put his hands on his hips, scowling down at the mess of glass and liquid.

"And that's how you get ants," he said, flashing a look up at Darien's back.

"

Darien stopped right behind Serena, standing there and towering over her as she fought with the joystick and button controls on the pad. She kept on playing with a determined grin, pretending that she didn't see him in the reflection of the screen.

"Hey," he muttered after a few seconds.

"You want a turn, you wait in line like everyone else, bub," Serena said.

"Serena," he spat through gritted teeth.

"Oh, Darien!" Serena said, grinning up at him. "I'll be right with you after I run out of lives."

Darien's eyes looked up in the right corner of the screen. _39 Sailors Remaining._

"Serena!" he hissed. "Stop!"

"Yeah, take that tone," she said, jerking the joystick to the right and tapping the red button rapidly.

Darien squeezed his eyes shut and raised his hands up in front of him. He imagined strangling the life out of her. It would be so easy, and in all this chaos nobody would even notice—.

Wait.

He gave his head a little shake. Thinking about strangling teenage girls. He _really _needed to get his mind right and get some sleep.

"Serena. Please?"

"Thank yooou," she said, walking her character into an enemy to end the round. "Was that so hard?" She spun around in the chair, motioning for one of the kids behind her to approach him. "Hey, want the rest of my Sailor V lives?"

"Awesome!" The kid cried as Serena pushed herself off the chair and presented it to him. Serena led Darien over to a less-crowded corner of the arcade, away from the machines and food.

"So, what can I do ya for?" Serena asked cheerfully.

Darien blinked a few times. "Do...do you guys still need a...partner?" he asked.

"Position still vacant," Serena replied.

Darien snorted out a quick burst of air through his nostrils, then slowly leaned in and down towards her ear. "I'm in," he whispered.

"Wait. Did you just say 'I'm in'?" Serena asked, putting her hand up to her chin.

"Yes," Darien grunted.

"Okay. I just wanted to make sure that you said the word 'I'm', followed by the word 'in'," Serena said, nodding. "Spendid! I knew you'd see things our way! Now, come on by the temple tomorrow, at one. Alone."

"Yeah," Darien said flatly.

"Alone!" Serena repeated. "If we so much as smell something fishy, we're gone and the offer will be closed."

"And 'I'm' is not a word," Darien said.

"Whatever!" Serena spun around and started skipping towards the arcade front door. On the way, she passed by Andrew, and withdrew a wad of cash and dropped it into his hand. "For your service!"

"Uh, thank you," Andrew said, watching her disappear out the door. Scowling, Darien slowly marched towards the counter on the far side of the arcade, moving through the throng of bodies.

Andrew pulled a small receipt out of his chest pocket, examining it along with the money Serena had given him. "Huh. Serena just gave me a...one hundred and thirty percent tip," he said.

"Don't care," Darien replied, walking past him.

"M-maybe she thought the ten was another one?" Andrew mused.

"Do. Not. Care." Darien edged into one of the barstools and leaned over on the counter, resting his head on it.

"Oh, she is just draining the life outta you," Andrew said mischievously, going back behind the counter.

"Andrew—"

"Like a succubus," Andrew continued, smirking to himself. "A beautiful, blonde, junior high suc—"

"ANDREW!" Darien bellowed, slamming the counter with both fists.

"Hey, hey, I'm not judging!" Andrew put both palms out in front of him defensively. "Not saying anything about you or your tastes."

"Andrew," Darien said menacingly.

"Two consenting human beings," Andrew continued.

"HEY!" Darien shouted. "_No one_ is consenting to _anything_!"

"Uh...okay then," Andrew said uneasily, picking up a dirty milkshake glass off the counter.

"Listen!" Darien said, pushing himself up off the stool and reaching forward to grab the front of Andrew's apron. He yanked him forward, their two faces less than a foot away from each other. "Listen to me, because I am being one hundred percent serious right now, understand? There is _nothing_ going on between me and Serena. _Nothing!_ And I swear to God, if you say one more word that even implies otherwise, I—", he reached over to his right, grabbing a green crazy straw out of a cup. "—will take this novelty milkshake straw, and jam it, very slowly, into your urethra."

"Ew," Andrew said, averting his gaze from Darien. "Okay, okay, I promise."

Darien released released him. "Good." He put his head back down on the counter. "Has nothing to do with that stupid Meatball Head. I'm just...rattled, right now, for other reasons."

"I can certainly see that," Andrew agreed, setting the glass down in the sink.

"Sorry I made you drop your milkshake," Darien said, making a makeshift pillow out of his forearms.

"Yeah, that was a pretty dick move," Andrew said. "Speaking of which, do you want one?"

"Got anything stronger?" Darien asked.

"You know I can't open my beer fridge until after hours," Andrew said.

"I meant stronger than that." Darien said. "Like, way stronger. Like poison."

Andrew chuckled, clapping Darien on the shoulder. "Whatever it is that's causing you grief right now, I'm sure you can work through it and get past it in no time."

"Ugh," Darien groaned. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Serena's stupid face in that infuriatingly sly grin, holding that thousand dollar bundle she had set on fire the previous day. "I don't know about that."


	4. Mutually Assured Destruction

Chapter 4: Mutually Assured Destruction

"

**Cherry Hill Temple, April 3rd, 12:59 PM**

"Remember, until his signature is on the dotted line, we are not safe." Amy placed her bookbag up on the desk in front of her. "So don't say anything that might be compromising. There's nothing stopping him from walking out until he signs."

"And what, exactly, is he signing that's so ironclad?" Mina asked, watching Amy pull a stack of papers out.

"You'll see," Amy said.

And then, a knock at the door. The five girls looked at the tall, sturdy frame on the other side of the wall, leaving no doubt as to who it was. Lita went over and slid the door open, revealing a much more composed Darien. Normal color had returned to his face, his hair was groomed, and he looked fairly well rested. He didn't look particularly angry or distraught either.

"Good afternoon," Lita said, bowing and beckoning Darien to enter. "I'll go get you something to drink."

"Uh-huh," Darien grunted, walking past her and going up to the empty seat at the desk.

"Good to see you," Amy said politely. "I trust you being here is a tacit agreement to enter into a partnership with us?"

"Yes," Darien replied. "But only to make sure you girls don't get into even more trouble."

"Why, thank you for your concern," Serena said dryly.

"Alright then. Before anything else, we need you to put some signatures on some documents for our insurance policy." Amy picked up a stack of papers from the pile in front of her, then pulled a pen and staple gun from her bag.

"Insurance policy?" Darien repeated.

"I call this our M.A.D. policy," Amy continued. "Mutually Assured Destruction."

"What do we have here?" Darien asked, grabbing the papers from Amy and looking at the top one.

"Fabricated documentation," she explained. "You can take as long as you like to read it over, but basically, it's a paper trail that serves to indicate that we obtained the million dollars via a drug smuggling ring."

"Amy!" Raye gasped. Amy held her hand up in the air, glancing at Raye.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Darien said, eyes skimming the document.

"By we, I mean us six." She looked around the room. "If these documents were to be exposed to the public, or most namely the police, it would paint a pretty clear picture that all six of us were involved in a several-month-long operation that made us a suitcase full of money in exchange for selling drugs."

"And why the hell would I sign that?!" Darien said, setting the papers down.

"Leverage," Amy answered. "Once you provide some signatures to make the paper trail appear to be real, I will hide the documents in a safe and secure location that only I will know. Of course, I wouldn't ever dream of exposing them, as it would get me in a lot of trouble and effectively ruin my life, as well as the lives of my friends. Unless, of course, that ship had already sailed because a certain someone had already sold us out. So, as long as you continue to cooperate, these documents will never see the light of day."

"You expect me to stick my neck out that far for you?" Darien asked, eyebrow raised. "Puts me in a pretty compromising position."

"Agree," Amy admitted. "However, we have no reason to want to double-cross you."

Darien glanced over at Serena. "I don't know about that."

"I assure you, if Serena was out to just get you in trouble, I would never go along with it," Amy said. "Your suspicion is fair, however. So, as you review the documents, please note that it clearly implicates all of us. Releasing them would doom all of us, and thus we will only do so if we've already been doomed somehow by your actions. Think of it like a nuclear arsenal. If I were to release it, we would all go down."

"Hmmm," Darien muttered, flipping the front page of the papers up to look at the second one.

"So to sum it up, if you double-cross us, we can take you down with us. And if we double-cross you, we will go down with you. Mutually. Assured. Destruction."

"As you will be the only party in control of the documents once I sign, what stops you from tampering with them to erase evidence of your involvement?" Darien asked.

"You are a bright one," Amy said, reaching down and picking up her tablet. "We will be storing the documents in a special lockbox." She handed the tablet over to Darien, who took it. "Here's an example of one. We'll be ordering one as soon as we get set up. You will have a chance to review the documents a final time before we place them in the box, and then you will be able to watch us lock and seal it. Once the box is sealed, opening it will automatically place a call to a specified phone number. Specifically, yours. You will be free to review and examine this functionality as much as you like once we get the box. If we open the box without your presence, you will immediately receive a phone call alerting you to that fact. It would take at least a few days to remove evidence implicating us from these documents, leaving you with time enough to stop us."

"Lemonade?"

Darien turned around. Lita was standing there was a tall glass of lemonade in her right hand.

"Sure, whatever," Darien said. "Okay, that all sounds...fine, but I'm going to read all these first."

"Take your time." Amy leaned back in her chair.

It took Darien about 45 minutes to review all of the paperwork Amy had put together. He spent a couple minutes on every page, making absolute sure to not miss a single word that could end up screwing him. It wasn't a total evidence orgy, but there were enough faux communications between multiple members of the supposed 'drug cartel', as well as schedules and meeting minutes, to pretty clearly paint the picture of the half-dozen as accomplices in crime. As Darien read, the other scouts did their own reading, of comic books and schoolwork. The room was silent save for Darien grunting and sipping the lemonade every few minutes. Finally, he was done with his review.

"Listen, Amy," he said, glaring at her across the desk. "As a general rule, I don't lay hands on a woman."

"Ha!" Serena cried out from the corner of the room. "Called it!"

"SHUT UP!" Darien shouted. "However, if you are trying to screw me with this, Amy, then hear this. Once I get out of jail, there will be _nowhere_ you can hide. I _will_ find you. All of you." He looked around the room slowly. "Do you hear me?"

"Yes, Darien." Amy nodded. "Loud and clear."

Darien picked the pen up from the desk and started flipping through the pages. "So, where do I sign?"

Amy went over to his side of the desk, flipping to a few of the pages to indicate where she needed his signature. He signed four times and left his initials twice in total.

"And I think we're good to go." Amy picked up the stack of papers and took them over to her side of the desk. She picked up the staple gun and started putting some of the papers together, each staple coming out with a little _pthunk._

"_As a general rule, I don't lay hands on a woman_," Serena said in a comically deep voice, doing a very poor impersonation of Darien. "_There will be nowhere you can hide_." She laughed, walking up towards Darien.

Darien stood up and picked up his lemonade glass. "Hey, Meatball Head, you wanna maybe shut up?"

"You watch too many bad Arnold Schwarzenegger movies," Serena added slyly.

Darien sighed. "One, there's no such thing. Two, I'm dead serious. You screw me, and I will hunt you to the ends of the earth, and when I find you, it will _not _be quick."

"Come _ooonnnn,_ Darien!" Serena said, going up to him and slapping him on the back. "It's a mutually beneficial relationship, nobody is screwing anyone! Where is the trust?!"

"Hey, _you_ almost blew up my car!" Darien retorted hotly, pointing at Serena with his index finger.

Serena laughed. "Oh, yeah. That." She pulled the black device out of her pocket again, watching Darien jump with glee. "You mean this?" She tapped the red button a few times with her thumb, watching Darien wince. He spun his head around towards the door, but heard no fiery blast. "I got this in a happy meal ten years ago!" She flipped it up in the air towards Darien, letting him catch it in his off hand. "It doesn't even work anymore! Idiot!" She laughed manically as she walked away.

"Hrrrrnnnn..." Darien moaned, knuckles on his right hand going white as he gripped the glass with his strong fingers, squeezing harder and harder until it shattered. Glass shards, tiny ice cubes, and the remains of the lemonade scattered on the carpet floor. Darien looked down, then spun away, not even bothering to apologize.

"Yeah Darien, it's been a long day, you just head home!" Serena called out.

"Tomorrow, four o'clock," Amy called out. "Be here. And there's a manilla folder by the door with your initial instructions, try to get those things done before then. Also, burn the instructions when you're done."

"And do whatever you need to do to cope, poor dear!" Serena added. "Whatever you need to do to come to terms with the fact that I have a million dollars and you don't!"

Darien had his fingers on the knob of the door, but froze. He stood there for a second, then started to laugh deliriously. For a moment, Serena thought she might have snapped. Finally, he turned around, a crazed grin on his face, putting his hands on his hips.

"You think I give a _crap_ about your stupid million dollars?!" He shouted, rounding on her.

"You are -literally- shaking with jealousy," she said.

"Well, let me tell you something, Meatball Head!"

"Paging Doctor Green With Envy! Paging Doctor G. W. Envy!" Serena called out.

"You might be on top of the world right now, feeling like you could do anything. But tomorrow is another day with a whole new world of possibilities! And with it, a billion opportunities for you to blow your money!"

"Hey—" Serena started.

"And if there's one thing I've learned about you in the last few months, Meatball Head, is that you and opportunities to blow something tend to go together quite well, so something tells me this little fluke won't be lasting too long!"

"Oh, yeah? Well—"

"There's a saying about a fool and his, or her, money. So yeah, I'll play accountant for you girls, give you some adult supervision, but this situation is more delicate than you could even begin to comprehend. So for you own sake, try not to do anything stupid."

He patted her on the back and walked back over to the door, grabbing the envelope as he did so. Serena scowled.

"Hey, I don't have to _try,_" Serena said as Darien pulled the door open, excusing himself. Serena looked down at the floor. "Wait. Dammit!"

"Heh," Raye chuckled, coming up behind Serena and leaning against the desk. Serena turned around, frowning. "Idiot."

Serena picked the staple gun off the desk and aimed it at Raye, clicking the trigger and firing a little piece of metal at her chest. It hit her and she flinched back.

"Hey!" Raye shrieked, leaning away from Serena.

"Serena!" Amy chided, walking over to the blonde with her hands on her hips. "You could hurt her!"

"I really hope I did," Serena said.

"Oh, I'll show you hurt!" Raye shouted, making a fist and approaching Serena.

Amy held her right hand out towards Raye, palm out. "Raye, stop!" She turned back to Serena, taking the staple gun out of her hand. "Serena, that's not a toy! Now..." she pointed at Raye.

Serena crossed her arms over her chest, then rolled her eyes. "Fine...I'm...sorry I shot a staple at you."

"Apology accepted," Raye said, eyes still narrowed menacingly at Serena. "Assdouche."

"Hey!" Serena took a step forward and grabbed the front of Raye's robes with her left hand, pulling her forward and cocking her right hand back into a fist. "Call me that _again_."

"_Make me,_" Raye spat back.

"Will you two give it a rest?" Lita demanded, standing up. "Today's supposed to be a happy day for us!"

Serena couldn't supress a grin. "Yeah. This is gonna be pretty great."

Raye sighed. "I...guess I'm too happy to stay mad at you." The two scouts shook hands. "Truce."

"Yeah, all things considered, that couldn't have gone better," Mina said, flipping through a comic book.

"Well..." Raye looked down at the broken glass in the patch of damp carpet. "Not quite."

"I know," Lita said, coming up next to Raye to look down at the mess. "I mean, lemonade? Hello! Ants?"

"Which reminds me, Amy," Raye said, turning to look at her friend. "I don't know how practical it is to be meeting about a super-hyper-confidential matter at the temple every day."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Amy said, smiling. "That will be taken care of soon enough."

"

**85th and Stadium, April 3rd, 8:15 PM**

Mina slammed her heel down on the beast's head, drawing a roar of pain from it. Landing on her back, she quickly tucked her legs in and then lashed them out in a violent kick that pushed the monster down the street a few more yards and allowed her to roll back into a standing position.

"Mercury!" She yelled out, casting a quick look around at the crowds of people beating a quick retreat from the violence. "I need cover!"

Amy emerged from a side alley, panting. She immediately put her hands on her knees and keeled over, sucking in oxygen.

"Cover!" Mina shouted again. Amy waved her hand in the air, creating a dense fog.

"They're...still thirty seconds out!" Amy gasped out. "Maybe sixty!"

Mina bent down into a fighting stance as the creature, which looked like a large lion with red eyes, charged forward at her. She grabbed it's head and dug her heels into the street. She was pushed back, heels leaving shallow streaks in the street.

As her right hand continued to push against the crown of the creature's head, she pulled her left hand back into a fist and started rapidly slamming it into the monster's snout. The speed of her blows sped up until she was making contact about three times a second, her fist a blur of speed. But the monster seemed unfazed.

She glanced down and saw the sidewalk underneath her feet, which could only mean one thing. They were about to collide into a building, and she was going to take the full brunt of the blow. She was about to jump and let the monster go underneath her, right into what was hopefully a concrete wall. Unfortunately, as she went up, the monster was able to catch her foot in it's mouth, causing her to quickly slip back down to in front of the beast's snout.

It was a bone-crunching blow, right into a wall of bricks. Immediately, she felt her entire back scream out in pain, and large segments of the brick were knocked out of alignment and fell to the floor.

Wincing, she opened her eyes and saw the monster back up a couple feet, preparing for another charge. She quickly flipped up into a standing position, ready for another round. But then, the creature simply froze on the spot.

Mina looked up, peering through the fog. Amy had stuck one of her boots into a small water fountain on the side of the street, and had pointed her right hand at the negaverse monster. A small blue beam was shooting out of that hand, right into the back of the creature, encasing it's behind in ice. In a couple seconds, it was completely encased in ice.

"Oh god," Mina moaned, sucking in a deep breath. Amy went back to gasping for air as soon as the monster was fully encased. "Thank you!"

Amy nodded. Mina removed her chain from her waist, spinning it around a couple times in her hands, then whipping it up into the air and bringing it down on the frozen monster with all the force she could muster. The ice shattered, along with the monster. Slowly, the remains of the negaverse creep dissolved into dust.

Mina fought the urge to bend over, knowing it would be better for her to remain upright while getting her wind back. Serena, Raye and Lita finally came bolting into the area, speeding from a parallel street over to the exhausted scouts.

"The ones over on 68th are neutralized!" Serena said loudly, running over to Amy's side. "Are you okay?"

Mina walked over, keeping her head up so her lungs were able to get the maximum amount of air possible. "It was just one, we got it."

"Too much...collateral damage," Amy managed to get out inbetween pants. They all looked down and saw the skidmarks on the street and destroyed brick wall. "We're gonna have to—"

"Nevermind that, Mercury!"

All five scouts turned to look at the communicator on Amy's belt.

"There are three more on 104th and Market, you have to stop them now!" Luna cried.

"Three more?!" Lita shouted. "This is ridiculous!"

"That's...that's...two and a half...miles..." Amy gasped before collapsing down to her hands and knees.

"Mercury!" Raye cried out, reaching down to help her back to her feet. The scouts had spent the entire evening running around town, one disturbance after another. Apparently tonight was some sort of D-Day for the negaverse.

"Luna, Am-Mercury's gassed!" Serena said, bending down towards the communicator. "She'll never make it!"

"You three go on ahead!" Mina said, coming over and grabbing Amy to keep her standing up. "I'll get her there, but you guys go! Improvise for cover!"

"Okay!" Serena said. "Luna, four minutes! Raye, Lita, if they try to scatter, push them back to the intersection! Containment!"

"Let's go!" Lita said. The three scouts took off, leaving a gust of wind in their wake.

"

One of the monsters, identical to the others the scouts had seen so far that day, burst out of a fancy restaurant, destroying the plate glass window in the process. It stalked around the outdoor tables for a moment, then slammed the side of it's body into a truck parked on the sidewalk.

Lita didn't bother slowing down, throwing herself right into the back of the monster as she barrelled down the street. The two bodies skidded down the street, coming to a stop right near the intersection. Lita tightly hugged the monster to her body, sending a massive jolt of electricity surging through it.

The monster roared and struggled, Lita determined to remain attached to it. Finally, however, it bucked her off, sending her crashing down to the sidewalk. It turned to face her, roaring.

Lita looked up. She had landed right next to a stop sign. The monster charged at her.

She reached up, grabbing the pole, and flipped up into a standing position. She ripped the sign out from the concrete, slapping the monster in the face with the sign and knocking it to the side.

The monster sized her up with the new weapon. She gripped it tight in her hands, and the entire metal section started to crackle with electricity. Lita charged forward, effortlessly spinning the beam in her hands, causing the monster to back away.

She kept poking and prodding the stick forward, the monster wary of striking. A car engine started in the distance, distracting it. Lita used the opportunity to leap forward and smack it in the face, sending more jolts of lightning coursing through the beast. She kept up the attack, slamming and slamming it until the signpost snapped in half.

The beast was on the ground, smoking slightly and wounded. It snarled, but was still trying to struggle back to it's feet. Lita thought about trying to shoot so much electricity into the monster that it would be vaporized, as draining as it might be. She was spared that when Serena sped by, wrestling with an identical creature, finally gaining some leverage and throwing it into the center of the intersection.

"Moon!" Lita cried out. She pointed at the defeated creature. Serena flung her tiara at it, quickly zapping it into nothingness. Both scouts turned their attention to the one in the center of the street.

Their attention was drawn away by a crash from above. They looked up to see another negaverse lion tumbling out of a 4th story window, Raye clenching onto it's back.

The two bodies slammed into the street, leaving spider web cracks underneath them. Lita and Serena turned back to the other lion, but it had taken advantage of the distraction. Lita turned just in time to see the monster headbutt her into the ground. She felt the ground give slightly underneath her, leaving a small crater. She gave a little scream of pain, and the beast rounded on Serena.

Raye wrapped her arms and legs around her adversary, her extremities catching on fire and scorching the monster. She kept holding it there, burning the monster with every ounce of fire energy she had.

Serena managed to duck underneath her foe's initial charge, getting her hands underneath it's neck and flipping it backwards. She pounced on it's stomach and pummeled it right in the gut.

Raye refused to let the lion go, continuing to pour as much flame as she could onto it. Serena was busy, so there was only one option. She would just have to destroy it using pure force. With a final exhausting burst of flame, she vaporized the large animal.

Serena, meanwhile, got flipped off her mark, then got stomped viciously in the chest by one of it's legs. She gasped, the air being driven out of her lungs. Aware that doing nothing would hurt much more, she managed to tuck her legs in and kick them out into the monster before it could stomp again. She flipped to her feet, the lion staring her down from a few feet away.

She glanced around at the situation. Lita hadn't gotten up yet, still laying on the ground, body limp and panting. Raye seemed to have been entirely gassed by her burst of fire, and hadn't gotten up either. Serena didn't feel so spendid herself, soaked in sweat and about ready to collapse. She reached up to her forehead to grab her tiara, remembering just as her fingers found nothing that she had already thrown it.

She squared up with the remaining monster, sucking in air, fighting to stay on her feet. There was no plan, no favorable strategy. She had no idea what she was supposed to do.

She braced herself as the monster lept at her, thinking maybe she could dodge it.

And then, it was knocked back to the ground, maybe a foot and a half in front of Serena. A black rod had been lodged directly between it's eyes, the force of impact knocking it down. She stared at it, dumbfounded. Slowly, the monster dissolved, the rod coming to rest on the ground.

She spun around, looking down the street. Her expression softened and she relaxed on seeing the silhouette of a familiar man. He was walking towards the intersection, cape fluttering behind him.

"Oh thank God!" Serena exclaimed as he walked up to her.

"Ladies," he said, nodding to Serena.

"Tuxedo Mask, perfect timing!" Raye cried, grinning. "Ohmigod, I can't move!"

"You girls have been busy tonight," he said, pushing his mask up his face to be firmly up against his eyes. He bent down to pick up his rod, moving over to Raye. "Covering the whole town."

"Oh, well...y'know, all in a day's work," Lita said unconvincingly.

Tuxedo Mask bent down and helped Raye to her feet, steadying her.

"The Negaverse is getting bolder," he continued, walking over to Lita. "Tonight was the most action I've ever seen at once."

Serena grabbed her communicator off her belt, putting it up to her mouth.

"Please tell me those were the last ones," she panted.

"I think we're okay," Luna replied.

Mask helped Lita get up, letting her use him as a support as she tried to find her balance.

"Oh, Tuxedo Mask, I don't think I can make it home tonight," Lita said. "You should probably carry me!"

Serena quickly took a tumble to the concrete, immediately waving her hands over at Tuxedo Mask.

"Hey, Tuxedo Mask! I fell down too! Come help me up!" she said.

Tuxedo Mask laughed. "Alright, alright."

A strong mist suddenly enveloped the region, followed by a fog. Serena spun her head around and saw Mina helping Amy run along the street.

"It's okay!" Serena said, waving the two of them down. "We're good!"

"Oh, good!" Mina said, slowing to a stop next to Serena. Amy keeled over, panting. "I don't think we have much fight left in us."

"You're cutting it pretty close, Tuxedo Mask!" Serena said as their mystery savior approached her.

"I'm out of practice." He went up to her and extended his hand. She took it, letting him pull her up. "Been a couple weeks since I had to show up."

"Well, we do the best we can," Serena said, blushing. "That was close though. Thank you so much."

"No problem," he said, tipping his hat. "Well, tell you what, if anything else comes up tonight, I'll take care of it. You girls get on home."

"Oh, you spoil us," Serena said, giggling.

"Appreciated," Amy said, still gasping for breath, but now standing up straight. "But all that collateral—"

"Just get on home," Tuxedo Mask insisted. "Once the adrenaline wears off, you might not be able to move." He turned around and leaped into the air, pushing himself onto a nearby roof.

"Okay," Serena said, wiping her forehead off. "Everyone, go home. And we have _got_ to come up with a better system for this."

"

**Serena's Bathroom, April 3rd, 10:55 PM**

"Oooohhhhhh," Serena groaned, trying to not cry. She was laying down in the tub, only her head sticking out at the top. "Luna, I wanna retire."

"Well, Serena, if it's any consolation, I am very proud of you!" Luna said. "Today took a lot of guts on your part, and you managed to pull it off!"

"I think I'm just gonna lie here forever," Serena said.

"Cold water would be better for you in the long run," Luna said.

"Hey, I spent all day running around town killing...space lions, so I'll use whatever water I want!" She closed her eyes. "I have school tomorrow! How am I gonna move?!"

"Just think...happy thoughts," Luna suggested. "Like about how I'm going to tell Amy to approve spending some of the money at a spa for you five."

"Oh, you're a saint," Serena said, leaning her head back. "Might need to make that a couple spa visits."

There was a knock at the door. Luna quickly curled up in the corner.

"Serena, dear?" Her mother entered the room. "You've been in there awhile, y'know."

"Ohhh..." Serena looked up at her mom pleadingly. "Today was a rough day. Please don't make me get out yet."

"And...what happened today?" she asked, putting her hand up to her chin.

"Uhh...dodgeball," Serena replied, averting her gaze. "Lot of abuse."

"Well, alright, but it is just about bedtime," she relented. "Try not to take too much longer. You'll wrinkle. Oh, and—" she glanced over at Luna in the corner. "—do you always bathe with your cat in the room?"

"Uhhhh...yeah...yeah, I mean...do you not?" Serena said, giving an uneasy grin.

"Riiight," her mother said. "Feel better." She left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Luna, we really need to come up with a better way," Serena said. "I mean, the fighting is one thing, but running around town? It's too much."

"It's not an...ideal operation, I'll admit that much," Luna said. "In many ways it's an imperfect setup. But we have to work with what we have."

Serena groaned again, then slowly let her head sink underneath the water.

"

**Cherry Hill Temple, April 4rd, 3:58 PM**

"Come on, girls!" Amy cried out, standing up in the middle of the room. "I know it's hard, but we all need to have a stiff upper lip right now! We don't want to show any weakness in front of Darien."

"It feels like a bunch of field mice are fighting over a piece of cheese inside my thighs," Lita moaned. "I have never been this sore in my life."

"At least you can feel your thighs," Mina said, laying back on the floor. "I never wanna walk again. I wanna buy a wheelchair."

"And I can't bend my knees, so I understand," Amy said. "But Darien will be here any second, and we should put on a good show for him."

"Alright, alright." Serena got up, gingerly walking around the room, every step causing her to wince slightly. "I can do this."

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Raye called out. Darien pulled the door open, left hand inserted into his pocket and doing his very best to look indifferent. He walked in and slid the door shut behind him.

"Alright. Let's get this over with," he grunted, entering the room. "I did what you asked."

"Excellent," Amy replied. She pulled a small cardboard box from her bag, walking over and handing it to Darien. "Take this to the bank and deposit it."

He took the box and pried the lid open, revealing several stacks of twenties.

"Five thousand, enough to get the ball rolling," she said. "And then, you will be driving here." She handed Darien a slip of paper. He took it, scanning the couple of lines written in pen on it.

"Where's this?" he asked, folding it up and putting it in his chest pocket.

"Hopefully, the location of all future meetings between us," Amy said, nodding. "You go on ahead, we'll meet you there."

Darien needed no further reason to leave the company of these five girls for as long as possible. He turned around and departed the room within seconds.

"Holding out on us, Amy?" Raye asked. "What's this about a meeting location?"

"It's a surprise. I've got my eye on a little...something downtown off Custer Avenue." She picked her bag up. "So let's get going and I can show you!"

Lita's face fell. "Wait, you want us to...walk to Custer Avenue?" she asked.

"Huh. Fair point," Amy said, slowly bringing her right foot up towards her body and bending her knee, wincing through the pain. "Okay, Plan B. Someone call a taxi."

"

**17th and Custer, April 4th, 4:38 PM**

The chainlink fencegate slowly slid open, a man in a blue uniform watching it as he held a button in his booth down.

"Okay, girls, I'll get Nathan to escort you in," the guard said. "And when this guy shows up I'll direct him."

"Thank you!" Amy called out. The other four girls looked around at the area inside the fence. Honestly, it looked pretty dull. Just several rows of rectangular structures, mostly gray and brown in color, with green numbers on the sides. The four looked at Amy skeptically, but she seemed thrilled with herself.

Another uniformed man came out of a enclosed area right inside the gate, and beckoned the girls to follow him. They complied, most of them taking small steps and trying to supress winces.

"Evening, ladies," Nathan said. "So you five wanna see number eight?"

"Yes please," Amy said.

"Limited demand on that particular size," he explained. "But the sale price won't last forever, so jumping on it's definitely the right thing to do."

Mina chuckled to herself. Raye elbowed her in the ribs.

They walked down a couple rows until they got to a building with a green '8' on the side. Nathan went up to a small door in the side and unlocked it, admitting them entrance. The five entered, Nathan following behind and closing the door. The initial room was just a small, rectangular room, about the size of an office, with white walls and a boarded-up window. Other than several electrical outlets in the walls, it was entirely plain.

"I was expecting something a little more..._Downton Abbey_," Raye said dryly. "Maybe something Victorian. Seems like a better meeting place to me."

Amy put her index finger to her lips, then shot a sideways glance at Nathan. Raye nodded.

"Alright, as for the actual warehouse," Nathan said, going over to a door on the opposite side of the room. He pulled out another key, inserted it into the knob, and pushed it open.

The five peered out into a reasonably massive, empty room, with walls that must have gone a good thirty-five feet up, and nothing but some dustballs in the corners. The floor was entirely gray concrete, the walls brown wood.

"Wow!" Serena gasped. "Amy, are you saying that all this—"

"It's a great deal," Amy said, nodding. "It's six thousand square feet and the rent's two thousand a month. And it's got electricity and running water!"

The five girls went into the near corner and huddled up, crowding away from Nathan's watchful eye.

"One second, Nathan, we need to talk among ourselves!" Amy called out. "So, what do you think?"

"Well, it's definitely big enough," Lita said.

"Not loving the style though," Mina threw in.

"Oh, we can always make it our own," Amy said. "I think it's perfect. It can be our new headquarters. We'll need some things set up of course, but once we do we'll be a well-oiled sailor scout team!"

"Are you sure we need all the space?" Serena asked in hushed tones.

"I have plans," Amy said. "We're going to need space. We can use this place as a hideout, a meeting place, a storage location, whatever. The security's decent, we won't ever be bothered, we don't have to worry about being overheard, it's a pretty nice deal. The way I see it, we keep the office looking innocuous so Darien can be in there without suspecting anything. We get a separate lock system for the inner door and never let him into the warehouse."

"Amy, you did awesome," Serena said, wrapping her arm around Amy's neck.

"And what's this all supposed to be?"

The girls turned around to see Darien enter the warehouse from the office, hands in his pockets.

"Ah, you must be the...adult supervision these girls were talking about?" Nathan asked, coming up to Darien.

"Yeah," Darien replied.

"Alright then! I'll head on back to the security office, you just keep an eye on your friends. Look around a bit, though there ain't much to look at, and just make sure you're back at the gates in...half an hour? Can I trust you there?"

Darien shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

Nathan saluted, then marched out of the warehouse, shoes clicking on the concrete as he departed.

They waited for the sound of the door in the office shutting, then Darien spoke up.

"And what is this place?"

"This is our new headquarters," Amy explained. "Or rather, will be. You just have to fill out some paperwork to finalize us renting it."

Darien's forehead wrinkled. "And...why do you girls need a warehouse?"

"Not your concern," Amy said. "Your concern is what you will tell people why _you_ need a warehouse. I have a few more documents for you to sign."

Darien sighed. "Should I just sign my firstborn over while we're at it?"

"I don't think you having children is a very realistic possibility," Serena said. "Just a hunch."

"Hey, shut up," Darien retorted, turning to look at Serena. "I am doing you a favor, so watch your tongue."

"A favor?!" Serena cackled. "We're doing _you_ a favor! There are probably ten thousand people in this city who would have taken this position, and we just gave it to you!"

"Yeah, Serena. You could have gotten anyone, but you got _me_. Don't think I don't know why. It's because you're just _dying_ to spend more time with me, because you're in the danger zone! Yeah, that's right, I see right through you, Meatball Head!"

"Hey, wait a minute," Serena shouted. "You work for me now, so you can't call me Meatball Head!"

"I work _with_ you." Darien scowled. "Barely. I work with her." He pointed at Amy. "You just happen to be buzzing around like a little mosquito."

"You work_ for_ me," Serena insisted, leaning up toward Darien's face and glaring right into his eyes. "And you will address me by my proper name, _Miss _Tsukino, from now on."

"Heh," Darien chuckled, turning to walk back over to Amy. "I'd rather ride a unicycle blindfolded across a freeway."

Serena grabbed Darien's arm and yanked him back to face her. "You listen, you little...wait, that's even better! Okay, from now on, you are to address me as _Madame _Tsukino. That's an order!"

"Not in a million years," Darien said, turning away and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Darien!" Serena said through gritted teeth, pulling him back in and leaning in close to his face. "Call me Madame Tsukino."

"_Make me_," Darien snapped.

Amy cleared her throat loudly, looking at the two and tapping her foot against the concrete.

Darien glanced at Serena, then walked over towards Amy, hands in his pockets. "Meatball Head," he muttered.

"Darien Douchebag," Serena countered.

"You already called me that one," Darien said.

"It was good enough to merit seconds!" Serena retorted.

"Now," Amy said, dropping her back from off her shoulder. "It's simple. I have a couple of documents that indicate that you won a significant sum of money in a card game while vacationing in Japan. And I have another that says you wish to rent this warehouse to set up a private gym. It should be sufficient to drive away suspicions."

"Seriously, what are you actually using the warehouse for?" Darien asked.

"N-O-Y-B," Serena said flatly.

"I'm not going to rent a warehouse in my name and let some junior high girls mix meth in it," Darien said simply.

"It's nothing illegal," Amy assured him. "But it's also private."

Darien sighed. "Okay, fine, let's see these papers." He and Amy went back across the room, towards the office. "I guess this is better than going around town and buying...jewelry and dresses."


	5. Alpha

Chapter 5: Alpha

"

**Headquarters, April 5th, 5:55 PM**

"Man, that spa was _exactly _what I needed!" Lita said, rubbing her face. She was sitting on the small wooden desk that had been set up in the office room. Amy set her laptop down on it and turned it on.

"It was nice," Amy agreed, watching the laptop power on. "This laptop should do until I get something a little more powerful set up." She reached down and grabbed her bookbag, dumping a stack of papers out in front of her.

"What's all that?" Lita asked.

"Financial planning for my money growth strategies," Amy answered, leafing through the stack. "I figure we should get on it as soon as possible."

"Looks pretty complicated," Lita said, peering down at the papers.

"Well, if it was easy, everyone would do it," Amy said. She tapped her password into the laptop.

"Are you sure you're not making this way too complicated?" Lita asked, picking up a corner of one of the sheets and peeking down at one near the bottom. "I mean, honestly, I think our money growth strategy needs one or two pages."

"And what money growth strategy are you thinking of, Lita?" Amy asked, not paying attention as she started pressing keys on the laptop rapidly.

"This one called, my boyfriend is psychic and knows exactly how the stock market will move months in advance?" Lita answered.

Amy's fingers paused mid-stroke and she snapped her head up to look at Lita. "Greg is _not _my boyfriend!" She went red.

"Seriously, you could make a killing," Lita said, ignoring her. "I mean, forget just having _one _million dollars, we could—"

"H-he doesn't even live in this city anymore!" Amy continued, unable to get the color out of her cheeks.

"It worked for David Beckham," Lita replied, winking. "And there's no reason why he can't give you stock tips over the phone, or on the computer."

"He wouldn't do that!" Amy insisted.

"And how do you know?" Lita said, leaning in closer to Amy, a naughty smile on her lips.

"Well...obviously he thinks it's morally wrong," Amy explained, averting her glance away from Lita. "I mean, if he didn't, he'd already be doing it. Or at least something similar."

"Maybe he is doing it, and you just don't know," Lita suggested.

"N-no he's not, I—"

"Oh, of course, how could I? Obviously you two just know each other so _incredibly _well." Lita patted Amy on the top of the head. Amy opened her mouth to say something, but let it hang there for a moment before closing it again, face going redder still. "Even if he wouldn't do it for himself, I'm sure he'd do it if his _sexy_ girlfriend asked him real nicely—"

More blood rushed to Amy's head as the color became more pronounced. "Lita! I am _not_ Greg's girlfriend, so stop saying that!" She scowled, which served to make her look absolutely furious with the red color.

"Okay, fine." Lita shrugged. "Then you know what you have to do."

"Lita—"

"Seduce him!" Lita pushed herself off the desk and towered over Amy. "Make him your boyfriend! Two birds with one stone, you get a man in your life and he's a perfect meal ticket for the scouts."

"I-I can't do that!" Amy squeaked, fidgeting away from Lita's imposing figure.

"Can't? Or won't?" Lita narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer to Amy.

"Uh...both," Amy said, turning back to her computer and trying to ignore Lita's presence.

"Fine then," Lita said, turning away. "I'll just have to take one for the team. _I'll_ seduce Greg."

"Wh-what!" Amy shrieked, turning back to Lita. "You can't do that!"

"And why not?" Lita asked, turning to glare at Amy.

"B...B-because it's wrong to use a person to achieve selfish goals like obtaining money!" Amy crossed her arms over her chest. "So I forbid it!"

"I'm kidding!" Lita said, expression softening. She walked over to Amy and patted her on the head again. "Greg's all yours, dear."

"H-hey!" Amy snapped. "I—"

"Lita, your opinion, please," Serena interrupted. She, Raye and Mina were over on the other side of the small office by the door, all of them holding a couple of rolled up posters with a few more on the ground. "Which one should get the best spot?" Serena unraveled one of the posters in her hand, showing it to Lita. It was a Sailor V poster, her crouched down in a battle pose. Mina opened the one in her hands, showing another Sailor V poster, this one with her standing straight up in a heroic pose. "I mean, this one shows her ready for combat, which is good. But she looks so heroic in that one, so it's a tough call."

Lita walked over to the three, looking at the two posters. "Well...I think the heroic look is best for any high profile location."

"Alright, heroic it is," Serena said, rolling the one in her hands back up. "Okay, so this one goes—"

Darien picked that moment to stroll in through the door, gym bag slung over his left shoulder and right hand clenching the handle to a cooler.

"Idiots...doing idiot things...because they're idiots..." Darien muttered under his breath as he walked in, looking at Serena out of the corner of his eye. Serena glared right back, putting her hands on her hips.

"Ah, Darien. Good evening," Amy said. "I trust you're ready to begin? Serena, please close the door."

"Not quite," he said, shrugging the gym bag off his shoulder and setting it on the ground, then putting the cooler down next to it as Serena shut the door. "But go ahead, I'll get set up." He sat down in the chair next to Amy.

"So, we're going to set up some accounts in your name on a few websites and start implementing some strategies," Amy said as Darien bent over to open the cooler. "Should be pretty simple."

"Uh-huh," Darien replied as a blast of cold air burst out of the opened container. Amy glanced down at it reflexively, fingers freezing on the keyboard.

"...w-what the—" she stammered, as Darien reached in and pulled out a tinted bottle with a blue label. "Darien, is that—"

"—for me," Darien finished, closing the cooler and putting his feet up on top of it. "It is for me, and for no one else."

"Hey!" Mina shouted, walking over to Darien and staring at him as he twisted the cap off the bottle. "Is that beer?"

"Hey!" Serena snapped, coming over as well. "You're on the clock, buster!"

"Which might mean something to me if this operation was even remotely close to being legal," Darien snarled back, putting the bottle mouth up to his lips.

Amy reached up and grabbed it, tilting it back down. "T-that's unacceptable!" she insisted. "Aren't you eighteen?"

"Yeah? What of it?" Darien put the bottle down on his knee, still holding it in his right hand.

"Eighteen-year-olds aren't supposed to consume alcohol!" Amy replied, glaring at the bottle disapprovingly.

"Yeah, well, fourteen-year-olds aren't supposed to have a million dollars in cash!" Darien retorted. "And yet, here we are, so excuse me for taking us another couple steps down the rabbit hole!"

"We're about to do some fairly serious and delicate stuff here," Amy said, gesturing at the computer. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to—"

"Too bad!" Darien interrupted. "Because the only way I'm going to be able to tolerate being around you five girls for extended periods of time without hanging myself from the rafters of this stupid warehouse is if I consume chemicals that help me stop thinking about what I'm doing. So if you want my help, you're going to have to deal with it!"

"We're about to begin the process of handling large sums of money," Amy continued. "Do you really think it's wise to try alcohol for the first time right before—"

"First time?!" Darien exclaimed. "Amy, please."

"

_Darien held the blue can up in front of his face, a pair of scissors in the other hand. He looked over at Andrew, nodding._

_He stabbed the sharp tool forward into the side of the can, just above the bottom, piercing a small hole in the aluminum. Immediately, he pressed his lips to the hole, beer flowing from it._

_"Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!" Andrew chanted, pumping his arms up and down in cadence with his chanting._

_Darien kept on sucking the beer down, passing it right into his stomach, the flow of strong-tasting liquid pushing his endurance to the limit. But even as he wanted to pull away from the can, he held there. After several seconds, the can was empty, and he threw it up into the air, gasping as he did so._

_Andrew caught it and shook it around, revealing no liquid remaining inside._

_"Not a drop!" Andrew said, slapping Darien on the shoulder. "Not. A. Drop!"_

_"Your turn," Darien said, handing him the scissors. Andrew picked an identical can off the table, jabbed a hole in the side along the bottom, and put the hole up to his mouth._

_"Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!" Darien chanted._

_After a few seconds, however, Andrew started choking and dropped the can. Coughing, with beer dripping out of his mouth, he keeled over to the floor, pounding his chest with his fist._

_"Ha!" Darien said, looking down at Andrew. "Pussy!"_

_"Shut up!" Andrew snapped back. "It went down wrong."_

"

"...really?" Raye said, raising an eyebrow at Darien. "Never really pictured you as the type."

"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you have an adoptive father who drinks so much beer he doesn't notice if a six-pack goes missing," Darien replied.

"And yet you lecture me," Serena said, crossing her arms over her chest and sticking her nose up in the air.

"I could drink a million of these and still be smarter and more situationally aware than you!" Darien said. "And again, I'm only drinking to deal with being around you five, so shut it!"

"Andrew too?" Lita wondered out loud. "Really?"

"He tries," Darien said. "I mean, I can get him under the table any day, but—"

"Wow. You boys have problems," Serena interjected. "I mean, seriously."

"Yeah, Meatball Head, my problem is that I have to spend my evening with a bunch of junior high girls!" He looked at the label of the bottle. "And this is four percent beer, so I really don't think you need to worry about it."

"Where'd you even get beer?" Mina asked, looking down at the cooler.

"Where'd you even get a million dollars?" Darien countered.

"Touche," Mina said, turning away.

"You four are free to leave," Amy said, turning back to her computer. "Me and Darien will handle setting these accounts up."

"You sure you're okay with being left alone with a drunk creep?" Serena asked, glaring at Darien.

"I'm not getting drunk!" Darien insisted. "Seriously! Four percent!"

"I think we'll be okay," Amy said, waving Serena off.

The four girls all walked over to the door that lead into the warehouse, Raye opening the door. A black tarp had been nailed above the doorframe, blocking vision from one room to the other.

"Shall we go over the rules regarding the garage area one more time?" Serena asked, eyes still on Darien.

"Don't worry, I don't even _want _to know what you girls are up to in there anymore," Darien growled.

The four pushed through the tarp, Mina shutting the door behind them.

"So, what do you think?" Serena asked as she looked around the giant empty room. Luna and Artemis were walking around the room.

"Not much to think yet," Artemis replied, looking at the dust pileup in the nearest corner. "But definite potential."

"Yes," Luna agreed. "This is definitely an improvement. I really can't wait to see what sort of plan Amy cooks up."

"I just want to see some sort of organized plan for the next time the negaverse decides to open a jillion portals at the same time," Serena said, looking around the large chamber. "I can _not_ handle another day of running a hundred and eighty miles like that!"

"I'm trying to figure out what the Negaverse's strategy is," Luna said, looking over at Artemis. "These last several weeks, it seems like gathering energy is the last thing on their minds. All of these recent attacks, I don't understand their endgame. It's been nothing but random attacks and aimless violence."

"I think they're trying to wipe us out," Artemis said. "With the sailor scouts out of the way, there's nothing stopping them from gathering as much energy as they want."

"Well, they almost succeeded the other day," Raye commented. "One more wave and we would have been in trouble, even with Tuxedo Mask. And I'm sure they're going to figure that out."

"After a large-scale attack, I don't think we're going to see the negaverse again anytime terribly soon," Luna mused. "I don't claim to know everything about them, but they do seem to have limited resources. Maybe they're counting on us thinking just that though."

"As far as we know, it's been close to a month since the negaverse has even tried a scheme to gather energy," Mina said, hand up to her chin. "Either they found a way to do it under our noses, or we've managed to put their plans on indefinite hold."

"Won't last," Artemis said. "Beryl is many things, but patient is not one of them, and if I know anything about that witch, it's that she's obsessed with unleashing the negaforce. If we can weather this storm, I think she'll eventually go back to her energy gathering plots. Should be good for us, a little easier to deal with. We just have to survive until then."

"

**Headquarters, April 8th, 4:08 PM**

The large, dark brown truck pulled away, leaving a couple dozen boxes littered on the concrete in front of the warehouse. The five girls stood there, watching the truck drive off.

"Aren't the deliverymen supposed to help get the boxes inside?" Serena asked. "What's their problem?"

"Probably because you stiffed them," Raye suggested, glancing over at Serena.

"It's because I told them to leave them outside," Amy explained. "The less other people get to see of our operation, the better."

"There's barely anything in there," Mina countered, pointing at the warehouse behind them.

"All it takes is one pair of wandering eyes to find one slightly suspicious item, and we're all going down," Amy said. "Now, we need to get all of these in the main room."

Lita looked around at the sea of cardboard boxes, then gave a small smirk. She looked over at Raye, holding up her left index finger. "One trip."

"Lita, please don't." Amy picked a couple of the small boxes up. "Some of these are extremely delicate."

"I was kidding!" Lita replied. "Seriously though, in Jupiter form, one trip, no sweat."

"Yeah, sure," Raye said, grabbing one of the medium boxes and turning towards the warehouse. "Try three, on your best day."

"Maybe if you tied my right hand behind my back," Lita countered, stacking three boxes on top of each other and lifting them all up in front of her.

"Don't think I've forgotten that incident three weeks ago!" Raye walked past Lita. "You couldn't get that school bus so much as a centimeter off the ground!"

"That's because it was full of kids!" Lita retorted, following Raye into the office. "Who apparently attend a school does doesn't adhere to government sanctioned health restrictions!"

Serena tried to pick up one of the big boxes, but found it far too much for her.

"Don't try to be a hero," Mina said, coming up next to her. "Maybe we could get this one together." She bent down on the other side of the box.

"One, two, three!" Serena cried, and the two blondes managed to get the box up a few feet off the ground. Slowly, they awkwardly walked towards the entrance.

"My God, what did Amy order?!" Serena grunted as they managed to just barely squeeze between the door frame. "A weightlifting set?"

"Mind the tarp!" Mina said as they pushed through the office door into the warehouse, sliding underneath the black plastic cover. The room was mostly as plain as before, but a very large desk and wheeled chair had been added against the near wall.

"Listen, bitch!" Lita said, pointing at Raye's face. "You can come talk to me like that when _you _lift a VW Beetle over your head! Yeah, remember that?! I sure do!"

"Yeah, well, if I was juicing half as much as you, I'd be able to lift an eighteen-wheeler," Raye retorted.

"Oh, oh, again with the jealously-borne accusations." Lita grinned, pulling up one of her sleeves. "Sorry, Raye, but these biceps are the product of countless hours of work! No shortcuts!"

"Will you two?" Amy sniped in, walking back towards the tarp. "We have important things to do right now." She looked over at Serena and Mina as they set their box down on the concrete. "And as for you two, there's no need for you to bring the big ones in."

"What is in this box?!" Mina gasped.

"You'll see," Amy said simply, going back through the tarp.

"

Half an hour later, all the boxes had been moved into the relative safety of the warehouse, and after some quick work at the hands of a tiny knife, they had all been sliced open. Carefully, the scouts spread the contents of the boxes out on the desk per Amy's instructions, revealing a collection of computer components, ranging from tiny processors to delicate motherboards to military-grade cases to twenty-eight inch flat screens. The five scouts surveyed their haul.

"Wait, that was all just a computer?!" Serena said, looking at all the empty boxes. "That is gonna be one _giant_ machine!"

"Three computers," Amy corrected. "Which I will network together after I build them."

"Goodness," Mina muttered. "How much did all this cost?"

"Less than six thousand," Amy answered. "Really not too bad."

Artemis reared up on his hind legs to peer up at the contents of the table. "Now that is an awful lot of hardware."

"Ah, Artemis, actually..." Amy went over to the white cat and pressed him back down onto his front legs. "I'd appreciate it if you could stay...at least five feet away from the components."

Artemis gave Amy a funny look, frowning.

"L-Luna, too, actually. It's just...very delicate components, and the fur could cause problems."

"Racist," Artemis said dryly, nevertheless walking away.

"You're not concerned about looking suspicious?" Raye asked. "I mean, this was a lot of stuff to order."

Amy shrugged. "To an outsider it looks like someone setting up an extremely nice set of video gaming computers, or someone trying to start their own small business. Occam's Razor and all that."

"Are you sure you can build all this?" Serena asked, leaning down to look at the parts.

"Building a computer is actually very easy," Amy answered, nodding. "But it will take several hours, preferably un-interrupted."

"Not a problem," Lita said, putting her hand down on the desk surface. "This lovely desk is all yours for as long as you need it."

"It is a nice desk," Serena agreed. "Thank God for those Germans over at IKEA."

"Swedish," Mina corrected.

"Right," Serena said offhandedly.

"Before I begin, however, I want to have a short discussion with you all." Amy slowly walked over to the wall next to the desk, where a large scrolled up piece of paper was hanging. She reached up and pulled it down, revealing a large map of the city. All the girls and both cats crowded around it. The map had been marked with several dozen red dots and a few larger green ones.

"This is a map of our fair city and the immediate surrounding area," Amy explained, pointing at the map. "Quite a large area. From the center of this map to any one of the four corners is just shy of sixty miles. The red dots are locations where we have engaged with a negaverse enemy of some sort, and the green dots are locations where the negaverse has set up some sort of energy gathering scheme. For now, the red dots are most interesting to us. It's a fairly expected distribution, given population concentration."

She reached up and grabbed a transparent plastic sheet, pulling it down to form an overlay with the map. All the observers leaned in. The sheet added a black dot at the very center and five lines eminating from it out to the edges, dividing the map into five sections.

"This is the map separated into five zones, all five approximately even given size, ease of mobility, and prior distribution of negaverse attacks. If the negaverse tries another en masse attack, and they will, we need a detailed plan to defend against it. My best proposal is that we all split up and accept responsibility for defending one zone each. This should reduce travel time and distance significantly, saving more energy for fighting."

"Makes sense," Lita said. "Although it'd be very easy for one of us to get overwhelmed by numbers."

"That's the downside, of course," Amy agreed. "But assuming the next big negaverse attack is even bigger than the last one, we can't possibly hope to hold up if we all just try running around town together. It will take some creativity, but we can do it. However..."

She grabbed the bottom of the transparent sheet and tugged it, letting it roll back up at the top, then reached up and grabbed another one. She pulled it down, showing a very similar overlay that instead divided the city into four sections.

"Here is the city divided into four sections, with similar constraints." Amy pointed at the lines.

"Is someone retiring?" Serena asked, looking around at the other scouts.

"There is great potential benefit to having someone, namely me, at headquarters to coordinate defense strategies." Amy tapped the map a couple times. "Once I am set up to a satisfactory standard, I will be able to see everything from here." She glanced over at the desk. "And the value of having eyes on everything during combat may be worth one less field operative."

"I thought that's what Luna and Artemis were for," Raye said, looking over at the pair of small cats.

"Normally, yes, but my new system is going to be many orders of magnitude more comprehensive, and more complicated." Amy looked at the cats as well. Artemis frowned. "And while I'm sure Luna and Artemis could handle part of it, their...ah, lack of fingers would severely hamper their abilities to use the full capabilities of it."

"Racist," Artemis grumbled.

"So, we have a decision to make. Do we utilize zoning strategy A or B?" Amy stared at the map. "I believe both are, in a vacuum, close to equally effective, with tradeoffs largely cancelling each other out. However, due to my dubious combat effectiveness in solo situations, I do suspect putting me in charge of mission control would be best in a large-scale invasion scenario."

"Hey. Hey." Lita walked over to Amy and clapped her on the back. "Don't say stuff like that. You have come a long way in a few short months, Amy. There isn't a single negaverse stooge out there who wouldn't quake in their boots when faced with the prospect of going one-on-one with Sailor Mercury."

"Well, thank you, Lita, but there's no denying my weaknesses when compared to you four." She turned back to the map. "So, this is the decision we need to make, together, as a team."

"And...what if we could have our cake and eat it too?" Raye said slowly, sticking her right thumb in her mouth and chewing on the tip.

"Go on," Amy said.

"A fifth field operative who wasn't you," Raye continued, pointing at Amy. "Someone else."

"Maybe, but I don't know any green berets," Mina said, looking over at Raye. "And I doubt even they could be of much use against some of these negaverse creeps."

"Oh come on," Raye chided, looking over at Mina. "You know who I'm talking about."

"Tuxedo Mask," Amy said, nodding. "It's a great idea, and one that I've played with many times recently. Unfortunately, he doesn't really seem to be the type, and has the habit of running off the moment he's not needed anyway. I doubt he'd even listen to a proposal."

"And suppose he was willing to listen?" Raye asked.

"Then it never hurts to ask," Amy replied.

"Well then, let's hatch ourselves a little scheme." Raye clapped her hands together in front of her.

"

**Serena's Bedroom, April 8th, 6:57 PM**

Serena extended her right leg out on the floor, folding her left knee in towards the right thigh, then pressed her forehead down slowly towards her right knee, reaching out towards her foot.

"I'm really glad to see you taking this all so seriously," Luna said, sitting up on Serena's desk. "You've certainly redeemed yourself after last week's little flash of selfishness."

"Thanks," Serena said, holding the position for a few seconds.

"I am hard on you sometimes, Serena, but I can recognize tremendous effort when I see it. And that's certainly been the case recently, so...I really do appreciate it. It's not easy to balance being a teenage girl and being a champion of justice, and I realize that, even if it doesn't always seem like it."

"Luna," Serena said suddenly, sitting up. "I'm gonna ask you something, and I want you to answer honestly."

"Sure," Luna answered, eyes on Serena as she rose into a sitting position.

"At this point, Amy's pretty much scout leader, isn't she?" Serena looked down at the ground.

"...w-well, Serena, I suppose from a...certain point of view, I could understand why it could appear that way..." Luna trailed off. "B-but team dynamics are always more complicated than just going off what things might look like from time to time."

"Is that a yes?" Serena said, flopping over into her desk chair. "I mean, I'm not...mad about it, or anything. I'm not. If it happened, it happened organically and because it was best for everyone. And that's great. But I mean, it seems pretty obvious to me."

"Ehhh...it's not black and white, Serena." Luna glanced across the room uneasily.

"She's just so much...smarter and diligent than me, it's almost like we're two different species." She shrugged. "I guess you just can't compete with that. I can't even imagine putting together the stuff she does in her sleep! I mean, that map? The computers? I can barely even use a computer!"

"Well, Serena, that doesn't...necessarily mean that Amy's assumed leadership responsibilities. One task of any good leader is using assets and resources, and putting people in the best position possible for them to succeed. By you allowing Amy to handle strategy and putting her in charge of the money, it could be said that you are being an effective leader by utilizing her brain!" Luna walked over to Serena and looked her in the face. "Maybe Amy is better at strategizing and planning than you, but think about her limitations in the field! When it comes time to take action and face off against the negaverse, it's not Amy everyone looks at!"

"Right," Serena said listlessly, resting her elbows on the table and propping her head up in her hands. "So she's kinda like the chessplayer, and I'm like one of the chess pieces."

"That's...well, maybe. Or maybe you're the fearless general who everyone looks to in a time of crisis. Someone who might hand some of the cerebral tasks to someone who has a true talent for it, but when it comes time for the human element to kick in, you're the one who rallies the troops to perform at their peak levels."

Serena chewed the inside of her cheek. "So, basically...yes, Amy's the leader now."

"Serena, I...is something wrong?" Luna peered in at her face.

"No, not at all," Serena said, her voice drained nonetheless. "I was just thinking about it today, when she was going over the map and the zones...thinking about how I could never do that if you gave me a decade with no distractions. And the money managing stuff? I mean, I'd be in juvy within a week if I tried that. I just...kinda thought about it. Thought about how when...we started doing this whole thing, it was supposed to be me. That's how things were set up, and I guess it just didn't work out."

"Maybe so," Luna said. "But if I know anything, Serena, it's that Sailor Moon is destined to do great things. So maybe you weren't meant to be the leader of the group, but either way, you _will_ do great things. So I wouldn't worry about semantics like being group leader."

"Yeah. I guess," Serena said quietly.

"There will come a moment when we find out one way or the other. The Dark Kingdom possesses great and terrible power, and they will push us to the breaking point one day. And when they do, we'll find out everything we need to know about the sailor scouts. Including who they turn to when things are at their worst."

"Okay." Serena shrugged. "I guess we'll see."

"And if you are just another scout, then you are a very valuable and capable one." Luna nodded. "That's what matters."

"I guess I'll...start on that homework," she said, bending down to open her schoolbag.

"On a friday night?!" Luna gasped.

"Yeah." Serena sighed. "It's what Amy would do."

"No, not quite."

Serena and Luna looked over at the window, which had been left slightly ajar, and was now swinging open to admit Artemis.

"Amy would have done the homework between classes at school, then spent the evening reading ahead another twenty chapters," Artemis added.

"Artemis!" Luna hissed through gritted teeth, leaping over to the windowsill and leaning in close to his face. "Serena is in the middle of an epiphany!" she whispered, hostility in her voice.

"Oh. Ew. That time of the month already?" Artemis whispered back. Luna rolled her eyes.

"Shouldn't you be at Mina's?" Serena asked, tapping her pencil against her desk.

"It's friday night," Artemis answered. "Me and my lady have places to be." He looked at Luna. "Wanna go freak out stray cats by talking english in front of them?"

"Ehhh...honestly, that kind of gets old after the first...forty-five times. By the forty-sixth time, you've really seen the full spectrum of reactions. Let's go sneak into a movie." Luna jumped out onto the windowsill.

"Last time we almost got caught," Artemis warned, following her out the window.

"No, _you_ almost got caught. I am completely invisible to the naked eye thanks to my sleek black fur. Nothing like the giant 'look at me' sign on your body that you call fur." Luna quickly scampered along the roof, making for the overhang in the backyard.

"Racist," Artemis retorted, following, leaving Serena to her homework and thoughts.

"

AN:

To those who are fans of comedy and light-heartedness, sorry for the heavier-than-usual chapter.

To those who are fans of darker tones, plot, character development and heavier themes, you're welcome for the heavier-than-usual chapter.

And to both...well, this story is intended as a part comedy and I will keep it that way, but expect occasional drama chapters with a little more weight to them to pop up here and there, when appropriate.

Also, I am starting my new job at Microsoft tomorrow, meaning I will be losing a significant portion of free time, meaning less writing. In all likelyhood I may cut my updates to once a week, maybe slightly shorter, since chapters in this story tend to take quite a bit out of me and require thought. So I'd like to take this opportunity to request you review the story with your feedback, or PM me if you prefer, so I can process that feedback into how to develop the rest of this story. I know most things about how this story will proceed, but that does not mean meaningful feedback won't influence some elements.

I usually don't ask for reviews, but given that I'm not going to be able to work on this story very often on weekdays and there's going to be significant downtime between chapters for the forseeable future, I'd appreciate it if I could get some feedback from my readers. It certainly can be taken into consideration going forward, and is something that might spark ideas that lead to plotpoints.

So yeah, not really the R&R type, but...there you go. I'll try to get into a once a week update schedule, but we'll see how it goes. Thanks for reading!


	6. Of Two Minds

Chapter 6: Of Two Minds

"

**Darien's Bedroom, April 12th, 8:58 PM**

Darien played with the three bundles of twenties in his hands, rotating them around and looking at them.

"Accepting money from junior high girls," he muttered to himself. "What have you gotten yourself into, Darien?"

The girls had been true to their word, paying him handsomely in cash in exchange for help with purchases. Truthfully, he doubted that he had done more than a couple hundred dollars worth of work, if that, and yet he found himself three thousand dollars richer. And yet, there was a sense of dread that overcame him everytime he looked at his newfound money. Obviously, it was ridiculous to any logical part of his brain, but he couldn't shake the feeling that if he tried to spend any of the money, or even deposit it in a bank, it would lead to him having to explain a lot of unexplainable things to the police. So, he hadn't done anything with the money yet.

"Well, I'll get over it eventually," he said quietly, reaching over to the endtable next to the head of the bed. He pulled open one of the drawers and dropped the bundles in, shutting it firmly. "Until then, this'll do."

He rolled over and laid down, thinking he might get to bed early tonight.

And then, a familiar dead cold swept over him, and he could feel himself losing consciousness.

"N...Mpph!" he gasped out, gripping his sheets tight and fighting to stay awake, but he knew it was a lost cause. He had played this game before. In seconds, he was unconscious, the last thing he felt a burning sensation in the pit of his stomach.

"

**Outskirts, April 12th, 9:03 PM**

Serena limped across the open field, dragging her left foot with every step, trying to cover as much ground as she could when her right foot was the one providing push. Hot on her heels was a fifteen foot tall ghoul, crushing the ground with every step it took as it tried to chase the sailor scout down.

"Ohmigod! This is bad!" Serena yelped, dashing towards a water tower. Under normal circumstances, she'd run circles around this thing, but she was slowed dramatically by her bum ankle.

The ghoul started to hurl glowing balls of light at her, their impact coming just a couple feet behind her. She sped up, willing herself to move faster. She reached up to grab her tiara, but it slipped from her fingers and fell onto the ground behind her.

She vaulted the chainlink fence that surrounded the water tower, a fireball just centimeters from frying her back as she did so. She spun around just in time to see the monster reaching forward to rip the fence apart.

Just before it could, however, it was yanked back several yards and thrown violently to the ground. Serena looked up at the lone tree in the immediate area, and saw a string of light lashing out from one of the high branches. Thanks to the illumination of that light whip, she managed to make out Tuxedo Mask. He had managed to wrap his beam of energy around one of the ghoul's legs and had yanked it back just in time.

"I'm your huckleberry," he called out as he pushed himself off the branch and dropped down next to the temporarily surprised beast. It managed to roll away from Tuxedo Mask and push itself to it's feet. Tuxedo Mask took the opportunity to leap forward and strike it in the face with his staff, creating a satisfying little pinging sound and knocking the monster up into the air.

"Alright!" Serena yelled, falling into a sitting position on the ground. "You go, Tuxedo Mask!"

Tuxedo Mask landed and turned to face the enraged ghoul. "You want to go walking in the moonlight with me?" He spun his rod around in his fingers. "I'll hold your hand."

He threw himself right into the monster's midsection, a blur of speed, impact driving the ghoul several dozen yards back. The monster landed on it's back, Tuxedo Mask quickly standing up on it's neck and raising his staff into the air.

Before the beast could react, Tuxedo Mask drove the tip of his staff right between the eyes of it, a little snapping sound signalling the end of the fight. The ghoul froze, then went limp, then slowly dissapated into the night air.

Sailor Moon clapped a few times, grinning. Tuxedo Mask quickly jumped over the fence and approached her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, extending his hand to her.

"I...I think I sprained my ankle," she said, taking his hand and easing up into a standing position. "I can't put much weight on it." She tried to keep her weight on her right foot, using Tuxedo Mask to steady herself.

"I'll help you home as much as I can," he offered. "Got a little sloppy out there."

"Yeah...I'm such a klutz, I dropped my tiara and...oh, such a klutz," she muttered, shaking her head and blushing.

"We all slip up here and there," he said, nodding. "Where'd your friends go?"

"Oh, they're...uh..." Serena looked around, absentmindedly standing up straight and setting her left foot down on the ground again. Tuxedo Mask looked down at her foot, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey...wait a minute..." he started, but was unable to finish the thought as a massive force of impact into his back pushed him violently into one of the metal supports for the water tower.

"I am incredibly sorry!" Serena cried, as several hands grabbed Tuxedo Mask and spun him around. He felt something wrap around both of his wrists. It all took less than a second, but when the chaos stopped, Tuxedo Mask looked around to find the four other scouts standing in front of him along with Moon.

He slowly turned around to find a bright glowing chain, an end wrapped around each of his wrists, looped around the support beam for the tower. He gave the bond a quick yank, finding it indeed kept him trapped against the support.

"Hey!" he snarled, glowering at Sailor Moon.

"I'm sorry!" Serena said, looking down at the ground. "But—"

"This how you repay everyone who saves your life?!" he snapped. He started to violently pull his arms forward, straining the chain against the metal support beam, trying to either break the chain or rip it through the beam.

"Tuxedo Mask, listen!" Amy shouted, holding her hands up in front of her. "That chain is Sailor Venus's, and it can not be broken! That support beam is nearly a foot thick and is made of steel! We don't want to hurt you, we—"

"We'll see about that!" he shouted, continuing to throw every bit of strength he had into going forward, pulling on the bonds with all his might.

The scouts watched nervously. In truth, they weren't _completely_ positive that Mina's chain was unbreakable, it was merely the only option that had a realistic chance of working. None of them enjoyed the prospect of facing off against an angry Tuxedo Mask, or having him hold a grudge against them.

"Please, Tuxedo Mask, we're not going to hurt you, we just want to talk!" Amy insisted. "Just...just calm down, please."

Finally, after several seconds of fruitless tugging, Tuxedo Mask relented, letting the chain go slack. He looked down at the ground around the tower, finding solid concrete. He looked up to see the beam go all the way up into the bottom of the water tank.

"Okay," Amy said slowly. "I'm sorry for the trickery, but we really need you to listen to us."

"If anyone tries to touch my mask, you won't get your fingers back," he growled. "That's a promise."

"We're not going to do that either," Amy said comfortingly. "We just want you to listen to our proposal."

Tuxedo Mask's body relaxed slightly, and he seemed slightly less incensed. He glanced around at the five girls.

"We're not going to hurt you," Amy repeated.

"You couldn't if you wanted to," Tuxedo Mask retorted.

"I apologize for the ruse, Tuxedo Mask, but you've never stuck around long enough to talk to before, and we really need you to listen to this." Amy took one careful step towards him.

Tuxedo Mask looked down at the chain behind him. "I don't listen so well when I'm chained to a water tower," he countered.

"You don't listen at all without the chain," Mina replied.

Tuxedo Mask heaved out a large breath. "If you unchain me, I'll listen to what you have to say. If you want me to even consider doing you girls any sort of favor, you're going to have to trust me."

"I have your word, then?" Amy asked.

"You do," Tuxedo Mask said.

Amy looked at Mina, nodding. Mina opened her hand and the chain immediately snapped off of Tuxedo Mask's wrists, flying towards Mina and wrapping around her waist neatly.

"Now then," Tuxedo Mask said, slowly advancing towards Amy. "Something on your mind?"

"We appreciate the help you've given us over this last half year plus," Amy said. "You've been an invaluable ally for us, and we'd probably all be dead without you."

"You're welcome," Tuxedo Mask said dryly. "Odd way to show your thanks."

"However, there are some limitations to our alliance so long as you remain so distant and mysterious," Amy continued.

"I'll stop you right there," Tuxedo Mask said. "I'm not interested in sitting around and telling you girls what my favorite color is, or if I like long walks on the beach."

"That's perfectly fine," Amy replied. "What we want from you is some degree of communication and willingness to integrate into our battle strategies. We're trying to organize ourselves into a stronger and more capable force, and even a little bit of help from you would go a long way in fighting against the negaverse."

"Not really my style." Tuxedo Mask looked over at Serena. "I'm perfectly content with the way we've been doing things."

"What drives you?" Serena asked, slowly approaching him.

"What do you mean?" Tuxedo Mask looked her up and down slowly.

"Swooping in from the shadows, saving us from the jaws of defeat time and time again...why?" Serena leaned in closer. "You've been doing it for months, but why? Good samaritan?"

Tuxedo Mask averted his gaze, looking off into the distance. "I don't know," he answered in a low voice, crossing his arms over his chest. "But that's why I'm here, and that's what I'm going to do. I don't know the why. The why doesn't matter."

"If you want to help us, then you'll want to at least take a look at what we have." Lita let her arms drop to her sides. "You want to support the sailor scouts, this is the best way to do it."

Tuxedo Mask looked around at the five girls for several seconds, silent.

"We can even pay you, if that would help," Mina offered.

"Do I look like the kind of guy who needs money?" he grumbled.

Mina shrugged. "Hey, we don't know anything about you. If that's something you'd like, that's something we can do."

"What would I do with money?" Tuxedo Mask bit the inside of his cheek.

"Buy a tuxedo?" Serena suggested. "I mean, honestly, it's a pretty weird alias to use given you wear a dress coat." She smirked.

"Funny stuff," he replied, grinning. "Alright. I'll look. But no promises."

"Follow us," Amy instructed.

"

**Headquarters, April 12th, 9:49 PM**

"We're bringing you here because we trust you. Please don't tell anyone about this place." Amy pushed through the black tarp, Tuxedo Mask quick to follow.

"Oh, don't worry. I don't talk to very many people." He looked around the large chamber as the other four girls entered. Much of the room was empty and bare, but quite a few things caught his eye. There were assorted diagrams and maps hanging from the walls, a very long desk supported half a dozen large computer screens and three large computer cases, as well as a pile of assorted small bits of metal and plastic next to a small device and a pile of tools. In the corner there was a small kitchenette and a couple of tan couches. An old, discolored, beat-up sedan was in the middle of the room.

"So...this is sailor scout headquarters?"

"Still got that new headquarters smell," Serena said, taking in a deep breath. "Have a look around."

Lita went over to the small kitchenette, plugging a white coffee machine into the wall. "How do you take your coffee, Tuxedo Mask?"

"Same way I take my women," he replied, smirking. "Hot, strong and bitter." Serena giggled.

Amy had gone over to the computer bank, powering the machines on and activating the screens. Tuxedo Mask went up behind her, watching as the computers quickly powered on.

"Schoolwork?" he asked.

"Not quite," Amy replied. She reached her hand under the table, pressing her palm into a little scanner that had been screwed to the bottom of the desk. The screens flickered, then went black, then an alternate set of desktop icons popped up. "Surely you understand the importance of privacy and secrecy."

"Touche," he replied, sweeping over to the small device laying on the desk. "What's this?"

Amy did some quick keyboard work, causing one of the screens in the middle to flicker again. The device Tuxedo Mask was looking at suddenly hummed for a second before going silent. The screen suddenly started showing a live video of Tuxedo Mask, standing there.

"That is a prototype," Amy explained. She picked it up off the desk and moved it around, the image on the screen rotating around the warehouse as she did so. "It takes video, records audio and tracks location." She removed a tiny little piece of plastic from the side of the device, holding it up towards Tuxedo Mask. "Earpiece."

"Impressive," Tuxedo Mask admitted.

"Once I perfect the design, we'll all wear one," she said, gesturing at the screens. A second screen suddenly started showing a map of the city, a small pulsing white dot where the warehouse was located. "A single person will be able to see everything happening in a battle, and instantly communicate information to field operatives."

"Not sure I feel great about the whole invasion of privacy bit," he said, looking at the camera.

"The master off button is located on the device," Amy explained. "There's more functionality to add, of course, but this is certainly workable."

Tuxedo Mask's attention was drawn to the pictures on the wall. He looked at the city map for a few seconds, then went over to a diagram.

"Coffee?"

Tuxedo Mask turned around to find Lita, holding a steaming cup in her hands.

"Thank you, Sailor Jupiter," he said, taking it. "So, Mercury, if I'm reading this notation correctly, this one might just be a little beyond even your grasp." The diagram had a picture of a roughly oval shaped object with a lever on the side, notes scribbled everywhere along the sides.

"Oh, I don't think so," she countered, walking over to the picture. "That's actually a pretty easy one." She grabbed the corner of the diagram and lifted it up, revealing a second sheet of paper underneath it. "Now this one, on the other hand..."

Tuxedo Mask leaned in towards the picture, which appeared to be a large barrel-shaped device. He read the notations carefully, then gave a small grin.

"Really?" he said quietly, glancing over at Amy.

"Really," she replied.

"Where did you girls get all these wonderful toys?" He turned around and looked at the computer bank.

"Girl's gotta have her secrets," Serena interjected. "Right, Tuxedo Mask?"

"Indeed, Sailor Moon." He looked over at the ruined car. "Bit of a fixer-upper?"

"Oh, nah," Lita said, jogging over to the sedan. "I just brought this in here for exercise." She slid her body underneath the car, grabbed onto a pipe, and lifted the chassis a foot and a half into the air. "Hup, one! Hup, two! Hup, three!" She started to rhythmically lift the car up into the air and set it back down.

Tuxedo Mask laughed to himself. "She is a rambunctious one, isn't she?" He took a long sip from his coffee cup.

"This is just the start," Raye said, walking over towards Tuxedo Mask. "We're going to change the game, Tuxedo Mask. We're going to change everything."

"So, what do you think?" Amy spread her hands to her sides.

Tuxedo Mask chuckled, then turned to Amy. "Ladies. You had my curiousity. But now? You have my attention."

"So that's a yes?" Amy asked.

"What do you have in mind?" Tuxedo Mask watched Amy open a small drawer in the side of the desk.

"We'll keep things simple for now. Let the trust build up," she explained, pulling a small square object from the drawer. She tossed it over to Tuxedo Mask, who caught it in his left hand and looked at it. It was black with a few transparent pieces of plastic around the edges. She then held up a similar looking object, but without the transparent plastic and with a red button on top. She pressed the button with her thumb, and the object in Tuxedo Mask's hand started to vibrate violently and flash the colors of the rainbow through the plastic bits.

"Simple enough," Tuxedo Mask agreed, nodding.

"When we need you, we'll alert you with this," Amy explained. "Fair?"

"Seems reasonable," he said. "It's a very nice setup, sailors. Be proud of yourselves."

Serena went up to Tuxedo Mask, holding a bundle of twenties up. "And, as Venus said, we _can_ pay you."

Tuxedo Mask raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "And where did you bunch find this kind of money?"

"Trade secret," Serena said, wagging her finger. "Maybe after you earn our trust."

"Saving your life fifty times doesn't count?" He waved his hand dismissively at the money. "I don't think I have much use for that."

"Eh, you might surprise yourself." She reached forward and slipped it into his front chest pocket. "Take it, there's plenty more where that came from."

Tuxedo Mask shrugged. "If you insist."

"I'll show you out," Serena offered, gesturing towards the door.

"We'll be seeing you again soon," Amy said as the two went towards the exit.

"You girls are just full of surprises," he muttered.

"

**Darien's Bedroom, April 12th, 10:51 PM**

Darien eyes jumped open and he quickly propelled himself up into a sitting position, gasping for breath. He looked around with wide eyes, but found only the normal bedroom furnishings that he had become so accustomed to. And yet, he was definitely covered in sweat and exhausted, so something had happened.

He quickly looked up at the clock.

"Two hours!" he grumbled, sighing. "Stupid doctors. Those pills don't help at all."

He was about to push himself into a standing position when he realized there was something in his right hand. He moved it up in front of his face. A black square object with bits of clear plastic around the outside.

"Oh...Jesus, what am I _doing_ when I black out?" He looked the thing over, but wasn't able to find anything of interest or anything speaking to a possible purpose.

"God, did I...break into a toy store?" He shook the device a couple times. "Maybe I need to stop drinking." He dropped the object.

He rolled over to push himself to his feet, but when he did he ended up looking right at a bundle of twenty dollar bills.

"Huh?" he muttered, grabbing it and holding it up. "Oh, _great_, I am gonna be in so much trouble—"

And then, he got a good look at the paper band. White with cursive writing that signified an even thousand dollars. He stared for several seconds, then quickly jumped up and bolted for his bedside cabinet. He ripped the drawer open and looked down into the tiny storage chamber. All three bundles were still laying there. He picked one up in his other hand, examining both paper bands. Identical, right down to the little details in the cursive writing.

Darien's jaw fell open slightly, and he dropped both bundles to the floor. One last time, just to prove his eyes weren't playing tricks, he looked into the drawer. Two bundles, plus the two on the floor.

"_What?_"

"

**Headquarters, April 16th, 9:45 AM**

Amy lifted the heavy cylinder, about the size of a baseball, up in her hands, feeling the weight and noting the four holes on the sides. Nodding, satisfied, she pushed her wheeled chair a few feet to the right and grabbed the multi-function camera device.

"_If it keeps on raining, the levee's going to breeeaaakkkk..."_ she sang to herself, the warehouse devoid of anyone else, Amy enjoying the peace and quiet of a massive workroom, all to herself.

"_If it keeps on raining, the levee's going to breeeaaakkkk..."_ Amy carefully inserted the camera inside the heavy cylinder, peeking into it and observing the points of contact and determining the best way to secure it within the protective shield.

"_When the levee breaks, there'll be no place to staaaayyyyy..."_

She was interrupted by her cell phone vibrating, causing her to jump a little. She reached into her chest pocket and pulled out a tiny earpiece-and-microphone, sticking the top part in her ear and tapping the side of it.

"Amy here," she said, picking up a thin steel band in one hand and grabbing a large hole punch with the other. "Oh, hey!"

She twisted a few dials on the side of the hole punch, calibrating it. "Oh, just some research and development. You?" She put the metal band in the device, then squeezed down on the lever on the side as hard as she could. She moved the band slightly in the device, then repeated the process. "Wait, what?"

She paused just as she was about to punch a third hole, raising an eyebrow. "Wait, why does it matter?" She spun away from her work, looking out into the large, mostly empty warehouse. "Well...alright, fine." She looked down at herself. "Uh...cardigan sweater. The pink one." She grabbed a water bottle off the desk and took a quick swig from it. "What was that? Oh..." she unzipped her sweater slightly in the front, looking down beneath it. "White t-shirt. Short sleeve. Plain." She gave a little gasp and her cheeks went crimson. "Greg!"

She shook her head a couple times. "Because, I...yes, I am wearing one." She tapped her foot on the floor. "But I...okay, fine." She slowly reached her finger up towards the collar of her undershirt and tugged it away from her, peeking down underneath it. "Uh...I guess you'd call that...aubergine? Yes, of course it has straps, how could it stay up without them?" She tapped her fingers on the desk. "Oh...well, yes, it has those. Hey, wait a minute...you already know what I'm wearing!" She furrowed her brow. "Because you're psychic...no, it doesn't make any sense for it to be better when I tell you."

She heard the door click open from behind the tarp, jumping off the chair slightly. "Gottagobye!" She pressed a button on the side of her headset just as Serena pushed through the tarp.

"Who were you talking to?" Serena asked, dropping her bag on the floor. Luna darted off of her shoulder and over to Amy.

"Ah...Vandalay Industries," she said quickly, turning back to the tools in front of her. Luna stopped several feet away from Amy, standing up on her hind legs to try to see what she was doing without getting too close. "Trying to...order some latex."

"For what?" Serena asked.

"Oh...stuff," she finished half-heartedly. "Come check this out."

"Nice new locks on the doors, by the way," Serena said, walking over to Amy's little experiment. Amy quickly punched another two holes in the band, then slipped it into a little groove in a black square tool in front of her. She pushed a couple buttons on the front of it, and it buzzed to life.

Serena picked the cylinder up, looking through it, tossing it back and forth in her hands. "Sure is heavy."

"And heavy-duty," Amy added, the machine suddenly quietly and opening a small slot on the front. She reached in and pulled out the metal band, which had now been bent into a perfect circle that would fit just perfectly into the cylinder. She picked up the camera and began carefully affixing the band around the tiny chassis. "As soon as I get this secured inside there, it'll be field-ready."

"That is really cool," Serena said, setting the cylinder down. "Though I'm not going to love carrying it everywhere."

"When you're Sailor Moon you won't even notice it," Amy replied. She held up the camera, which now had the metal band wrapped around it and secured, a series of tiny springs between the circular band and the camera. She shook it around a little bit, the camera bouncing around slightly. "Shock absorbers. All told, these things should be really dependable." She slid the camera into the cylinder, aligning the holes on the band with the holes on the cylinder.

"I take it they're not cost-effective to replace?" Serena asked, watching as Amy slowly screwed the camera into place.

"Each one of these costs around eleven thousand dollars," Amy said sternly. "So yes, please try to return them in one piece." She glanced down at her watch. "You're here a little early."

"Yeahhh...I kinda needed to get out of the house," Serena said, looking away.

"Oh?" Amy said, her screwdriver pausing as she slowly looked up at Serena.

"She went and flunked another test," Luna said. Serena shot the black cat a death glare.

"Serena!" Amy snapped. "You promised!"

"I know!" Serena whined. "B-but you know how much I hate math, and with all the stuff happening lately, I just got distracted!"

"Serena, I don't think you're taking this very seriously!" Amy set her screwdriver and the steel cylinder down, standing up to face her friend.

"Yes, I am!" Serena insisted. "C'mon, Amy, give me some credit, this is my first failed test in over a month! A-and I got a 58, which really isn't that—"

"We don't have room to give you any credit, Serena!" Amy put her hands on her hips, frowning. "You had a nice month, but the original point still stands. If Junior High were to end today, you—"

"—would be held back and have to repeat the grade. Yeah, I know!" Serena pouted.

"Then act like it!" Amy scowled. "All the progress you've made over the last month won't mean a thing if you slip up now. You've almost got your head above water, but you have to keep pushing!"

"Okay, okay!" Serena folded her arms over her chest. "I had to hear it all morning from my mother, I don't need it from you too."

"Well...I'm sorry, okay?" Amy turned back to the contraption, sitting back down. "I just really want you to get through Junior High." She resumed screwing the camera into place.

Serena stood there, glaring at Amy, arms still locked in front of her. Luna looked up at her, rolling her eyes.

"Don't pout, Serena," Luna whispered. "She's just trying to help you."

Serena groaned, then closed her eyes for a few seconds. She took in a deep breath, let it out, then slowly put her arms back by her sides. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I know you...take it personally when I do bad at school."

"I promised your mother I'd get you to pass the grade," Amy said. Serena came up next to her. "You don't want to make me a liar, do you?" She smiled up at Serena, which Serena returned as well as patting her on the back. "Let's just...try to forget about it for today."

She grabbed two discs of bulletproof glass and affixed them to both ends of the contraption, slotting them into place. "Voila!" She held it up in the air. Serena took it, rotating it around in her hands.

"This is awesome, Amy!" Serena cried as Amy turned on one of the computer screens. It sprung to life and showed the point of view of the camera, providing a detailed look at several parts of the warehouse as Serena spun it around.

Amy grabbed the camera. "Now..." she held it up at shoulder level and dropped it, letting it clang loudly to the floor. Serena's stomach flipped at the sound of the eleven thousand dollar device striking the concrete, but Amy had her eyes on the computer screen.

"Okay..." the screen continued to show live video footage. She turned on one of the other screens, which showed the city map with the blinking dot on the warehouse. She picked up the camera and moved it around, watching the video change.

"Alright, I think we've got it!"

"

Amy held a large blue bow up, identical to the one she wore in Sailor Mercury form on her chest, with one exception. Instead of a sphere inbetween the two wings of the bow, her camera contraption was holding the decoration together. She held it up to her chest, where it would be were she in Mercury form, as a demonstration.

"Thus, the camera is placed in ideal position to allow an observer to see the same thing that the field operative sees," Amy explained. "Plus, I can put the camera in a small covering that should hide it completely."

"Way cool," Lita said, coming up to Amy and taking the bow. "You really outdid yourself on this one."

"I just need to make four more of them," Amy said.

"Wait...what happened to discretion?" Raye asked, laying back on the couch. "You're gonna order fifty thousand dollars worth of equipment?"

"Oh, I had Darien file some forms that made it look like he wants to make a movie with his gambling winnings," Amy explained, smiling. "No one will look twice."

"Check it out, guys!" Mina called from the computer bank. "That camera isn't just transmitting video, it's recording! You can rewind, go in slow motion, everything!"

Lita, Serena and Raye ran up to the computer behind Mina, watching as she pressed some keys to make the video from the small camera rewind. Amy watched them, a smile on her face.

Suddenly, a red light bulb on the wall above the door flashed on. "Speaking of..." Amy said quietly to herself as she excused herself from the room, stepping underneath the black tarp and out to the small office.

Darien was waiting in there, hand on a lightswitch near the door. As soon as he saw Amy walk in, he flipped the light off.

"Ah, dependable as always." Amy sat down in the chair behind the desk. "We have a lot of orders to place."

"Yeah, sure..." Darien chewed on his inside cheek and glanced uneasily into the corner of the room.

"Something the matter?" Amy asked.

"Uh...so, to this point, Amy, how much have you paid me?" he asked.

"Thinking about going on strike?" Amy asked, smirking. "The old bread and roses, Darien?"

"No, no, nothing like that, I just...want to make sure that I have the same information you have," he replied, sitting down at the desk.

"Three thousand," Amy replied. "And there's a fourth waiting for you as soon as we conclude our business today."

"Huh." Darien pursed his lips. "You're positive?"

"Darien, I know how to count to three," Amy said, raising an eyebrow. "Why? Something wrong?"

"Uh...no, nothing, just...wanna be sure," he trailed off. "Let's...conduct our business."

"

AN:

So I managed to get this chapter up a little faster than I expected due to assorted circumstances, such as me getting my own office at work where I never get bothered. That may not be the case next week, so things could change. I figured to get a chapter up over this weekend, though I didn't expect it would be this early saturday morning. I might manage to get a second chapter up by sunday just because I have no weekend plans, but we'll see how things play out.

Beyond that...I don't love this chapter for some reason, but at this point I don't think I can do too much else. It's possible I'm way off in that assessment, but something about it just doesn't jump in my opinion. It moves the plot along, but it just feels off. Maybe because I wrote most of it when I was in my office. I dunno, I could be completely wrong.

Hope to update soon!


	7. Preparation

Chapter 7: Preparation

"

The first third or so of this chapter was written, then accidentally deleted, then re-written, so hopefully it doesn't seem hurried or seem like I wrote it when I was pissed off or anything like that. It's reasonably close to a copy of what it was the first time, in any case.

"

**Headquarters, April 22nd, 5:58 PM**

"Yes, you have to put it away!"

"Why?"

"Because you just brought it here to piss me off!"

"Is it working?"

Serena growled. She, Raye, Lita and Mina were seated on the couches in the corner of the warehouse, Raye holding a brand new copy of the latest Sailor V comic book. Serena tried to crane her head up to read it over her shoulder, but Raye kept tilting away from her every time she tried.

"Amy!" Serena cried. The blue-haired girl was seated at the desk, holding a tiny pair of tweezers and a small screwdriver, looking down at an organized array of electronic components. "Raye brought the new Sailor V comic book over and won't let me read it!"

"Don't you have homework to do?" Amy replied, not taking her focus away from the parts in front of her.

"No, actually." Serena leaned back into the couch cushions. "I already did it."

"Yeah right," Raye prodded, flipping a page and looking down at the comic book.

"No, seriously!" Serena insisted. "That's why I was so late today, my mom wouldn't let me leave my room until I was done with it." She gave a small frown.

"Well, congratulations," Amy said flatly. "Now stop whining."

"And go buy your own copy if you want to read it so bad," Raye added smugly.

"Not like there's a shortage of copies." Lita lifted a can of soda to her lips.

"About a billion of them over at the gameshop," Mina agreed.

"I know," Serena said through gritted teeth. "But my mom cut my allowance after I failed that stupid test last week." She bit her lower lip.

"And whose fault is that, Meatball Head?" Raye flipped another page.

"And _somebody_ won't let me bum a couple bucks out of our six-figure operations account, which we only have because of me!" Serena turned to glare at Amy's back.

"Serena, we've been over that," Amy said patiently, her eyes still focused on the task in front of her.

"Either way, Raye, that's no reason for you to flaunt your copy around in front of me!" Serena turned back to Raye.

"Maybe, but pissing you off is always a good reason to do anything in my book." She stuck her tongue out at Serena, then went back to her comic. Serena folded her arms, scowling deeply.

"Bag with which one douches," she muttered under her breath.

"_MEEEEEOOOOWWWWWRRRLLLLLLL!_"

The girls all jumped up and spun around. Luna had jumped a good two feet in the air behind Amy, eyes practically popping out of their sockets and mouth wide open in shock. The black feline darted underneath Amy's chair and tried to grab her ankle and pull her away from the desk.

_"AMY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"_ Luna hollered.

"Not now, Luna," Amy said quietly.

Luna let Amy's ankle go, spun around, and sprinted towards the other four scouts.

"Luna?" Serena stared at the panicking cat.

"Stop her!" Luna screeched, making a beeline straight for Serena. "Amy's gone stark raving mad! Go! Stop her!" She propelled herself off the ground and up in front of Serena, who caught her neatly in her arms.

"Luna, what's the big—"

"GO!" She shrieked, pointing at Amy. The four girls quickly ran up behind Amy, getting a closer look at her work. It was a few rows of tiny computer components, chips and wires, nothing out of the ordinary as far as they were concerned. But to the left of the rows was a blue transparent piece of hard plastic, laying there on the desk.

"Wait..." Mina looked at the plastic. "Amy, is that your visor?"

"Yes." Amy held one of the tiny microchips up in her tweezers. The part of the visor that went around the back of Amy's head had been pulled open and gutted, the components strewn out in front of Amy on the desk.

"Oh Gods, we're too late!" Luna moaned, sounding as if someone had just died. "She's pulled the entire thing apart! We're doomed!" She buried her face into Serena's chest. "Doomed I tell you! Doomed!"

"I am conducting research," Amy replied patiently, scribbling some notes onto a pad of paper next to her.

Luna ripped her face away from Serena and glared at Amy. "Amy, I don't have another one of those! Those visors can not be replaced! That was our one advantage against disguised negaverse agents!"

"I'm well aware," Amy said, picking up a magnifying glass and staring down at a tiny white pebble in front of her.

"Well, you certainly don't act like it!" Luna wriggled out of Serena's grasp and ran over to Amy, putting her front paws up in her lap. "What were you thinking?!"

"I need to understand how this visor works," Amy answered. "That requires careful examination of the inner workings." She picked up a small camera and snapped a picture of some of the components.

"Oh, well that's just _lovely_, Amy! I hope you learned a lot, it only cost us our most vital piece of negaverse-detecting equipment! I never thought you'd be the one to act this irresponsibly, Amy!"

"Speaking of equipment, Luna, please step away from the delicate components." Amy pushed Luna off her lap and shooed her away.

"Oh, _Gods,_ we're all going to die!" Luna groaned, collapsing to the floor dramatically. "We may as well turn ourselves in to the negaverse now!"

"Calm down, chicken little," Amy said, turning to look down at Luna. "When I'm done, I'll put it back together, good as new."

"Oh, I'd just _love_ to see that," Luna said darkly. "What am I going to tell central? I'm so sorry, but Amy wanted to win first prize at the science fair so she gutted her visor for parts? I'll be forever disgraced!" She glowered up at Amy. "Unbelievable!"

"What's unbelievable is how much of this is just technology," Amy said, looking down at all the parts. "Seriously, ninety-nine percent of the stuff in here is just microchips and circuitry."

"_Just_ technology?!" Luna spat. "Oh, you foolish—"

"Yes, I was getting to that, Luna." Amy turned to face her friends. "It's incredibly advanced technology, beyond anything we have today. Hundreds of years ahead of our time. Maybe a thousand years."

"Yes, which is why we needed it!" Luna stood up, the hair on her back standing straight up.

"Luna. You need to trust me," Amy said softly, holding her palm out towards Luna. "I understand your concern, but I need you to trust me."

"C'mon Luna!" Lita bent down next to her, stroking her back slowly with her large right hand. "Amy's never let us down before! Calm down."

"Ohhhh, you just don't get it," Luna moaned. "That visor was orders of magnitude more complicated than any piece of technology on earth today!" She looked up at Lita. "Your great-great-great-great-great grandchildren will be six feet under before humankind even begins to conceive of something that complex! And a fourteen-year-old girl is supposed to put it back together?! Absurd!"

"I have seen how it comes apart, Luna," Amy replied simply. "I can put it back together. I need you to believe me."

Raye went over and crouched down next to Luna, rubbing the top of her head. "Just chill out, Luna."

Luna narrowed her eyes and bit her lower lip, glancing around the warehouse with darting eyeballs for several seconds. Amy turned back to the components, examining them with a small eyeglass.

"I'm not one for outbreaks of pointless violence or allowing anger to override the rational part of my mind," Luna said menacingly. "But if you can't put that visor back together, Amy, then I may not be able to stop myself from taking out my frustration on your face." To emphasize the point, she allowed her front claws to show for a moment before retracting them.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence," Amy replied dryly. "Serena, if you could pick her up so she can see this?"

Serena went over and placed her hands on Luna's belly, lifting her up as Amy pushed herself a few feet to the right so the spectators could clearly see the array of items.

"Might I ask you a question, Luna?" Amy started.

Luna glared off into the distance for a second, then looked back to Amy. She sighed. "What is it?"

"I can make sense of every component inside the visor and compare it to some obvious analogue that exists in the modern day," Amy said, pointing at the collection of equipment with her tweezers. "With just one exception." She pointed at a tiny white pebble in front of all the other parts, everyone leaning in slightly to get a better look at it. From a couple feet away, you could barely make it out. "What is this?"

"That's a moon gem," Luna answered. "It's the power source."

"I figured as much," Amy said, grabbing the eyeglass and leaning in towards the tiny object.

"Sure is tiny," Serena said as Amy glared at it.

"Tiny it may be, but it'll outlast all of us," Luna said. "That gem will keep that visor running for centuries. Or at least, it would have if you didn't gut it!"

Amy ignored Luna's last comment. "How much power does this thing give off?"

"Oh, I can't remember the exact equation," Luna said. "Artemis might. That one's really small, so not much, the visor doesn't need that much power. It's the endurance that's impressive."

Amy jotted down a few more notes on her pad. "Okay...that accounts for everything. Everything but the power source can be attributed to hundreds of years of Moore's law."

"Wait..." Mina leaned in towards Amy as she snapped another picture of some of the components. "If it's all technology, does that mean you can build another visor?"

"Well...yes," Amy said. "I could. But I'd have to use currently existing technology, so it'd be the size of an eighteen-wheeler and I'd need a lot more than a million dollars. Besides, they don't sell moon gems at Wal-Mart."

Lita looked at Luna. "Don't suppose they don't have more of those gems around anymore, do they?"

"Oh, they're still around," she replied. "You just need a rocketship, a team of trained astronauts, and an industrial-strength drill."

Mina looked up at the ceiling. "On the moon, huh? So much for that."

"In the moon, actually." Luna looked up as well. "I remember the mining tunnels. Miles deep. If you could get up there and find one of the tunnels, it wouldn't even be that hard."

"Going to the moon?" Serena pondered. "Hey Amy, how much money do we have left?"

Amy gave a wan smile. "I'm afraid we're missing a good three zeroes."

"What about an alternate power source?" Raye asked, watching Amy take more notes. "Something a little more domestic?"

"Maybe if you had a plutonium mine in your backyard," Luna answered. "If you somehow found a way to hook that visor up to a million car batteries, I doubt it would run for more than an hour. Fossil fuels are out of the question."

"Well. I have seen what I need to see," Amy said, setting her pen now. "Now, to put humpty-dumpty together again."

"Oh, I just can't _wait_ to see this," Luna moaned.

"

**Headquarters, April 22nd, 7:38 PM**

"Okay, you got lucky," Luna said flatly. Amy was wearing the reconstructed visor and was looking around the room, the small computer on the desk going through what she was seeing and analyzing it in real-time. "This is nothing but a giant fluke, Amy, I hope you realize that."

"Life detection, functioning," Amy said quietly to herself as she looked at her four friends through the plastic. "Friendly-warning system, functioning. Geo-mapping, functioning."

"And none of that will mean a thing if the negaverse signature detection doesn't work!" Luna snapped. "So you had better pray for that!"

"Give it up, Luna," Serena said, walking up next to the cat and petting her back. "Come on, don't be a sore loser."

"I'm not being a sore loser!" Luna looked down at the computer, which was going through an initial diagnostic. "No one is happier than me that the visor seems to be working! I am merely emphasizing the fact that what Amy did was incredibly irresponsible, and she had better never do it again!"

"Oh, unwad your panties!" Mina chided, smacking Luna in the butt and nearly sending her off the desk. "I'll bet it works twice as good as it did before! Moon Kingdom scientists have nothing on our Amy!"

Luna heaved a great sigh. "You girls will be the end of me." She looked up at Amy. "And why, exactly, did you not ask me if it was okay to pull apart your visor?"

Amy shrugged. "Honestly, I thought you'd freak out about it."

"Well, you were right!" Serena yelped. The four girls all keeled over, laughing uproariously. Luna silently fumed.

"

**Meadow Park, April 26th, 4:50 PM**

Raye bent her knees slightly, looking down at the tall, pale grass beneath her. She glanced over to her left at Amy, who was holding her scout computer.

"Ready?" Amy asked.

Raye nodded.

Amy keyed a couple buttons on her computer. "Ready. Set. Go!"

Raye took off like a bullet out of a barrel, speeding across the small section of open field and into the thicket of trees. There was only a single path through the foreboding forest, but as it was completely straight, it served it's purpose quite well.

Raye kicked up a cloud of dust behind her, accelerating, going as fast as she could possibly push herself. The trees around her were a blur, a little dot of light in the distance expanding as she approached the thicket's exit. She focused on her breathing and moving her arms in rhythm.

Meadow Park was a large undeveloped area a few miles out of the main town, a couple hundred acres large and a half-decent enough place to see some wildlife or let your dog run free. Off the typical beaten paths, however, few humans ever strayed. Thus it was perfect for the occasional speed test on the part of the scouts.

Raye broke into the open field, just barely making out a tiny figure in the distance and hauling toward it. Her extremities were a blur as she pushed along, keeping right in the middle of the dirt path.

Slowly, the figure enlarged as she approached, until it became quite obviously Serena, in her Sailor Moon uniform, watching Raye beat a violent trail in her direction. There was a tree on either side of the path right near where Serena was, Raye eyeing the gap between the two trunks hungrily.

She propelled herself through the trees, breaking the little light beam that Amy had set up, signalling she had finished the run of precisely two miles. She slowed to a jog, gradually looping around towards Serena, easing to a slow halt next to her.

"How'd I do?" Raye asked. Her words were transmitted via the contraption she now wore on her chest, hidden in her chest bow, and the reply came in through her earpiece.

"Two minutes and fourty-four seconds," Amy replied.

"WHAT?" Raye shrieked. Serena grinned and jumped into the air with her arms up in celebration.

"Equates to a speed of 43.9 miles per hour," Amy added. "Twelve percent improvement over three months ago."

"Who eats too much candy _now_, Raye?!" Serena asked gleefully.

"Hey, two seconds is nothing!" Raye held her right hand up, index and middle finger pointed outwards. "Two seconds is basically meaningless!"

"Yeah, whatever, all I know is I won!" Serena started doing an obnoxious macarena-like dance.

"It's these stupid heels," Raye muttered, looking down at her shoes.

"Well, I'm wearing heeled boots!" Serena replied. "Now, I won the bet, which means..." she grinned at Raye.

Raye grimaced. "I'll bring the comic book to the warehouse tomorrow."

"That a girl," Serena said, clapping.

"Lita's about to go," Amy buzzed in.

Serena and Raye looked at each other.

"Closest to the pin?" Raye asked.

"Large pizza stakes?" Serena offered.

"You're on." Raye extended her hand towards her, balled into a fist. Serena extended her own fist, bumping knuckles. "I say three minutes, eighteen seconds."

"Not with all that extra muscle she's hauling around," Serena replied. "Three minutes, twenty nine seconds."

"Ready. Set. Go!" Amy cried.

The two scouts waited quietly, ears perked up for the sound of Lita hurrying down the dirt path, watching for signs of her emerging from the forest in the distance. Lita may have been easily the strongest scout, and also by far the most skilled at hand-to-hand combat, but her larger frame and added weight were not quite as well suited for speed.

After a short wait, Lita appeared, moving as fast as she could down the path, body quivering back and forth as she pushed it to maximum velocity.

A couple minutes later, she broke the finish line and meandered over to her two comrades, pushing hair strands out of her face.

"So?" She asked.

Amy was silent for a brief moment.

"Three minutes, twenty one seconds, 35.8 miles per hour, ten percent improvement."

"Alright!" Raye cheered, slapping Lita on the shoulder playfully. "You just got me a free pizza!"

"Aww," Serena said, nevertheless patting Lita on the back. "Nice run."

"Thanks." Lita took in a deep breath.

"I mean, you still got a long way to go," Raye said playfully.

"Hey, one day, when you're a real woman and you get yourself a pair of these—" she pointed at her breasts "—you'll move a little slower too!"

"Alright guys, Mina's coming!"

"Oh, here we go!" Lita said excitedly, cupping her hands around her eyes to focus in on the gap in the trees in the distance.

"Today is the day, ladies!" Mina called out through the radio. "Today is the day!"

"I say she does it," Raye said, extending her fist toward Serena.

"Forget it," Serena replied. "I say she does it too."

"I'm feeling it," Lita said quietly. "It's gonna happen!"

"Ready. Set. Go!"

Less than a minute later, the three could see Mina emerge from the thicket, body a blur of blazing speed. Mina was the fastest of the scouts since day one, and that had held up even after extensive training on the part of the five. Raye had even tried to give her the nickname of Sonic the Hedgehog some months ago, but Mina had put an immediate stop to that.

"She's gonna do it!" Serena squealed. "She's got it!"

"GO, MINA!" Lita cheered. "GET IT, GIRL! GET IT!"

Mina needed no goading, bolting for the finish line, leaving a line of dust in her wake, her gait graceful despite it's amazing speed. She broke the laser and slowly braked to a halt, doing a forward flip at the end of her run just to top it off.

"Did she get it, Amy?!" Raye said as Mina approached them.

Amy paused for a couple seconds, everyone listening intently.

"Two minutes flat."

"WOOHOO!" Mina cheered, jumping up. Lita jumped up and chestbumped her, sending her back several feet.

"Oh, sorry!" Lita said as Mina hit the ground.

"I did it!" Mina threw her hands up towards the sky.

"Sixty miles per hour, fourteen percent improvement over three months ago!" Amy threw in. Serena and Raye helped Mina to her feet, both of them grabbing the back of her head and rubbing it vigorously.

"Two minutes flat!" Mina said. "Let's see somebody break that!"

"Alright guys, I'm coming," Amy said. "Somebody give me a count and start the timer, please."

Lita ran over to the small laser next to the tree, kneeling down and putting her thumb on a little button there.

"I'm ready, you?" Lita called out.

"Alright Amy, you can do this...you got this..." Amy said to herself. "I'm ready!"

"Ready. Set. Go!" Lita pushed the button, then quickly fell back to the other three scouts.

"Two damn minutes!" Serena cried, wrapping her arm around Mina's shoulders. "You've got that run-away-from-the-cops type speed, girl!"

"I'm telling you, it's those jumping exercises," Mina said. "Changes your life, trust me."

"Wait a second..." Raye pointed at Serena. "Can you even _afford _to buy me a large pizza?"

"I'm good for it," Serena said dismissively.

"You got your allowance cut, Meatball Head, don't think I forgot," Raye said, narrowing her eyes. "If you stiff me, you can just forget about that comic—"

"Don't worry, I'm back in dearest mother's good graces," Serena said. "Scraped an eighty six on that book report _and_ aced my biology presentation."

"Nice." Mina stretched out her calf muscles. "On track?"

"Eh." Serena shrugged. "It'll come down to the finals."

A couple minutes later, Amy came barrelling down the path. She was the least physically able of the scouts, and foot speed over extended distances was more of the same. Though faster than any normal human being all the same, Amy just couldn't quite compete with her fellow scouts in a track meet.

"YOU CAN DO IT!" Serena shouted as Amy closed in on them. Raye waved her arm in a circle.

Amy crossed the light beam, slowing to a stop and taking in a few deep breaths. Her four friends went up behind her, clapping. She unclipped her computer from her belt and brought it up in front of her face.

"Four minutes, three seconds," she said. "So close."

"Ah, it's okay, Amy, you're right there!" Lita tapped her on the shoulder with her fist.

"29.2 miles per hour. Seventeen percent improvement." She put the computer back on her belt. "Almost there."

"Like I said, Amy. You've come a long way!" Lita clapped a couple times. "So, wanna run again?"

"Not today," Amy replied. "But I do have a surprise for you all."

Raye rubbed her hands together. "Amy surprises are the best surprises."

Amy reached down towards her belt and ripped a piece of velcro back, revealing an oblong gray object the size of her fist with a little lever on the side. She unclipped it and held it out in front of her. "Here we go!"

Immediately, her four friends jumped back, hands up in front of their faces defensively. "Whoa!" Mina gasped. "A-Amy, that's..."

Serena took a couple involuntary steps back. "Y-yeah, Amy, I mean, I'm sure you don't mean it that way, but that looks an _awful_ lot like a...well...hand grenade."

"You're not far off," Amy said. A small pin was sticking out of the lever component. She used her thumb to yank it out. The other four girls gasped as one, taking another few step backs.

"By not far off, do you mean way far off?" Serena said uneasily. "Please tell me you meant way far off!"

"This is the answer to the cover problem," Amy said simply. She tossed it down to the dirt ground, letting the lever release from it's closed position and stand perpendicular to the oval shape. The girls flinched, closed their eyes, turned away, and covered their face with their hands. But after a few seconds, all they felt was a slight chill.

Slowly, they looked around to find that they were surrounded by a thick fog, through which the five girls could just barely see each other.

"Did you actually think I'd detonate a real grenade less than five feet away from us?" Amy asked.

"W-well...I mean, weirder things have happened," Serena replied.

"Name one weirder thing that has happened, ever." Amy came up through the fog and stood right next to Serena. "I will buy you a jumbo ice cream if you can."

"Uhh..." Serena looked around, racking her brain. "Errr...the Tunguska event?"

Amy opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. She glanced down at the ground, then slowly closed her mouth, furrowing her brow in thought. "Wow, uh...actually, yes."

"Really?" Serena said disbelievingly.

"Yeah, I got to give you that one." Amy shrugged. "Okay, I...guess I owe you an ice cream."

"What the hell just happened?!" Lita exclaimed.

"Are you feeling okay, Serena?" Mina asked, going up to her and putting her hand on Serena's forehead.

"Yeah, never better." Serena cleared her throat. "So anyway, Amy, this is pretty cool."

"Riiiight," Amy said, giving Serena a funny look. "Anyway, I was able to contain my Mercury Bubble Blast in a compressed chamber that can be released when the valve is opened. They're not exactly cheap, but I wouldn't call them expensive either, so it's a good solution. The effective radius is about one city block, and the fog lasts about twelve to fifteen minutes. So from now on, they're standard issue when going into the field."

"Awesome!" Mina cheered. "Man, it's like Tony Stark and Thomas Edison had a baby and named her Amy Mizuno."

"

**Headquarters, April 26th, 6:51 PM**

"Alright Amy, come on!" Lita beckoned her forward onto the blue mat in the middle of the warehouse, putting her fists up in front of her. "Let's go!"

Warily, Amy stepped onto the mat, putting her hands up in front of her.

"Okay, remember, relax your muscles!" Lita ordered, slowly advancing on her.

"Hard to relax when someone half a foot taller is coming straight at you," Amy muttered.

"You know exactly what I'm going to do, Amy, this should be easy! Come on, hook right, hook left, hook right, hook left, real elementary stuff!" Lita got to within a couple feet of her. Her right arm lashed out at Amy's side, Amy responding by throwing her left elbow out to deflect the blow. Lita's fist bounced back from where it came, only for her to use her momentum to send her left fist flying towards the area just below Amy's shoulder. Amy put her hands together and neatly threw them out toward Lita's speeding extremity, bouncing the punch back away from her with her palm.

Lita was not to be deterred, and threw her right fist up high, aiming right for the side of Amy's head. Amy swung her connected arms up to bounce this blow back the other way, her arms protesting against the force of Lita's impact but holding up.

Lita's left fist flew in, coming in high as well, but Amy was able to duck underneath Lita's increasingly feral and out-of-control assault. Lita's fist flew right over Amy's head, and she quickly took advantage by socking Lita in her exposed left flank. Lita was knocked back, and Amy immediately put her hands up by the sides of her head.

"I am _so_ sorry!" she yelped. "That was too hard, sorry, I got caught up in—"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Lita said dismissively, waving Amy off. "That was excellent though! You were balanced, you used my momentum against me, you waited for me to make a mistake..."

Amy went up to Lita and looked down at where she had landed her punch. "Seriously, sorry, that's how Houdini died!"

"Oh, chill out, that was nothing!" Lita insisted. "You should see what Raye does when we spar, seriously, that was nothing!"

Out of the corner of Amy's eye, she saw a small green light flash on and off right above the doorway. She turned to it.

"Could someone please let the cats in?" Amy called out.

Serena rolled off the couch into a standing position and ran over to the door, undoing both locks and cracking the door open. She looked down to see Luna, who looked quite displeased. She had a length of rope tied around her midsection, attached to a small piece of tarp behind her with an unconscious Artemis on top of it. She walked in, dragging Artemis behind her like a sled.

"What happened?!" Serena cried, bending down to look at Artemis.

"He drank absinthe!" Luna pulled him further into the giant room.

"Eighty proof?" Raye asked, running up to look at the white cat.

"One twenty," Luna answered.

"Oh my god, is he dead?!" Mina gasped, jumping over the couch and sprinting over to look. Amy and Lita abandoned their training to observe as well.

"If he's not, I'm going to kill him," Luna said darkly.

"Come on buddy!" Mina said, shaking Artemis back and forth vigorously. "You're gonna be okay! Come on, give me something!"

Slowly, Artemis stirred back and forth and his eyelids flickered open. He looked around slowly, squinting. Serena pulled the ropes off of Luna's midsection, and she turned around and rounded on Artemis.

"I told you that wasn't fruit juice!" she shouted.

"God, where are we?" he asked, voice slurred.

"Headquarters!" Luna shrieked. "But in about five minutes we'll be heading to the morgue to drop your carcass off!"

"I...I don't think they take animals, Luna," Artemis said. "Morgue people tend to be pretty racist like that." He looked around again. "Now what happened to that bottle?"

"Oh for the..." Luna rolled her eyes. "Will you just give it a rest?!"

"Wait..." Artemis glared at Luna. "You drank the whole thing?!"

Luna sighed.

"Oh my God...learn how to share!" Artemis collapsed to the floor. "Oh, how I _loved_ that bottle..."

"Artemis—"

"I think there's a...there's a liquor store three blocks down." He slowly got to his feet. "I'm gonna go get me a _new_ bottle."

Mina grabbed Artemis's hindquarters. "Slow down there, champ. Pretty sure they don't serve talking cats."

"Maybe not normally, but we'll see what happens when I slip him an extra hundred dollars," Artemis said suggestively.

"How about I slip someone a hundred dollars to...to..._neuter_ you?!" Luna snapped, jumping in front of Artemis and putting her face right up in front of his.

"Costs more than that, I bet," Artemis said.

Suddenly, one of the computers against the near wall started sounding a loud foghorn. Amy jumped, then quickly darted for the desk.

"What's that?" Serena asked as Amy started rapidly tapping the keyboard.

"I set up a script to monitor local news websites," Amy explained, reading the text output on the screen. "It alerts me whenever there's a report that resembles negaverse activity." The girls quickly crowded around behind Amy.

"What do you see?" Lita asked, crouching down to look over Amy's shoulder.

"Non-human entity attacking the movie theater on Gump Avenue..." she said. "Seven minutes ago."

"Alright girls, let's get a move on!" Raye said, quickly morphing into sailor scout form.

"Hold on!" Amy cried. "The foghorn alarm means multiple noteworthy reports." She pulled up more windows on her computer. "Attack at the bus station near the pavilion...explosion reported at the seafood deli..."

"This is the big one!" Serena looked around at her four friends. "They're throwing everything they've got!"

"I've got seven separate instances of violence so far," Amy said. "I'm inclined to agree." She pulled open the drawer in front of her on the desk, picking up the non-descript black object with the red button up in her right hand. "Time to see who we can really trust." She stomped her thumb down on the button.

"

**Darien's Bedroom, April 26th, 6:58 PM**

"

Slowly, Darien pulled himself upwards, both of his large hands on the metal bar that had been secured to the wall next to his bedroom door. His massive arms strained against gravity, pulling his mass up until his chin touched the bar. Slowly, he let himself descend back down until his arms were straight again. With deliberate and careful motions, he repeated the simple process.

Suddenly, the black object on his bedside table started vibrating and flashing multiple colors. He paused, turning around to look at the device, then felt that all-too-familiar coldness. He didn't even have time to try to scream, his grip on the bar slipping. He crashed to the floor, already out cold, the last thing he heard the vibrations of the foreign object on his table.

"

**Headquarters, April 26th, 7:00 PM**

"Let's give Tuxedo Mask a few minutes to show up," Amy said, looking down at the clock in the bottom right corner of her computer screen. "It'll be better if we can synchronize before the operation."

Luna looked down at Artemis, who had collapsed to the floor again. "Lita, since we have a moment, could you put on a pot of coffee for Artemis?"

"Can cats drink coffee?" Lita asked, looking down at Artemis's form.

"Well, cats can't drink absinthe, and yet here we are, so what the hey?" Luna said, rolling her eyes. Lita hurried over to the kitchenette.

"Can you make that an irish coffee?" Artemis asked, turning her head towards Lita.

"Artemis!" Luna shouted.

"Hey, if you make me go cold turkey, I'm gonna get hung over!" Artemis said, voice still mushing words together slightly.

"Would serve you right, you filthy alley cat," Luna huffed.

"I need to taper off, or else it's gonna be bad," Artemis said. "I mean, real bad."

"I don't have any alcohol," Lita said, turning the coffee maker on.

"We have rubbing alcohol in the emergency medical kit," Artemis replied.

"Oh, please, by all means, do that!" Luna snapped. "Maybe you'll go blind, just like you deserve!"

Serena stood straight up, then reached down to touch the tips of her boots, stretching herself out. "This is it, people!" she called out. "Today is the day! You people ready?"

"Born ready!" Raye replied, cracking her back.

A dull series of thuds sounded on the wall of the warehouse, not too far away from the door. The scouts turned towards the tarp covered entrance.

"That was fast!" Serena said, quickly pushing through the tarp and going through the door.

"Make sure it's actually him!" Amy ordered.

Serena made her way across the office in two large steps and opened the door to the outside. She looked to left, and sure enough, Tuxedo Mask stood there, cane in hand.

"Oh, it's him!" Serena called out. "You'd make a great pizza delivery guy."

"That's my day job," Tuxedo Mask joked, doing a small waist bow at Serena. "Permission to enter?"

"Granted," Serena replied quickly. She ran back into the warehouse, Tuxedo Mask hot on her heels, both of them running over to Amy.

"Okay, thirteen incidents reported so far by local news outlets, so there's probably at least two dozen so far," Amy said, standing up. She handed tuxedo mask a small earpiece and a small button. "Pin that to your collar, it's a microphone. You won't have video, but we can stay in contact this way."

Tuxedo Mask stuck the earpiece in and pinned the button to his lapel. Amy sprinted over to the picture mount where the map was hanging, quickly yanking one of the overlays down over it.

"Okay, five zones, one operative to each!" Amy pointed at the map. "Get to your zone, handle disturbances in it, and do not leave it! I will call out enemy locations the best I can based off of local news reports, but you will have to run recon! If you are overrun, I will arrange for backup to arrive as soon as possible! Mars, you take zone one." she pointed at the map to indicate her intent. "Moon, you're on zone three. Mask, zone two. Jupiter, zone five. Venus, zone four. Take one of the belts hanging by the door on your way out!"

"Let's do it!" Serena called out. Amy took her place at the computer chair, powering all the screens on. The four other scouts plus Tuxedo Mask made for the door, grabbing one of the belts, sweeping the tarp to the side as they left.

In the corner, Luna had dragged Artemis over to a food bowl that had been filled with coffee. Artemis was reluctantly lapping it up, Luna watching him.

"Well, hurry it up!" Luna insisted. "This is the big one, we need you sober!"

"She didn't mix it right!" Artemis insisted. "Tastes like...ugh, tastes like expired ketchup or something."

Luna narrowed her eyes and gave a little growl.


	8. Invasion

Chapter 8: Invasion

"

**Headquarters, April 26th, 7:12 PM**

"Artemis, get out of there!" Luna ordered, putting her front paws up on the second level of the cabinet. Artemis was in the back of the storage space, navigating through rows of bottles.

"Hold on, hold on, I'll bet anything Lita brought in at least one..." Artemis looked at the bottle labels one by one.

"Today is the biggest day in the sailor scout enterprise so far, now kindly get your head in the game and out of the seasonings!" Luna scowled.

"Ah ha!" Artemis said. "I knew she was holding out on me." He carefully wrapped his mouth around the neck of one of the bottles, dragging it out of the cabinet.

"Artemis, what is that? What are you scheming?" Luna dropped down from the cabinet shelf as Artemis dragged a green transparent bottle out onto the floor. "What is that?!"

Artemis set the bottle down on the ground. Luna looked at the bottle label.

"NO!" Luna shouted, running over to Artemis and trying to push him away from it. "_Absolutely _not!"

"Luna, I just went over this. If I get hung over, then I'll be completely useless." He jumped over her and started pushing the bottle over towards his coffee bowl.

"Which is different from every other day _how_?!" Luna snapped, running in front of Artemis and blocking his path.

"I just need to add some of this to the coffee and we'll be good!" Artemis insisted. "It's just cooking wine, there's barely any alcohol, it's just enough for me to get by!"

"What is Lita doing with wine bottles anyway?!" Luna muttered, looking down at the ground.

"It's just for cooking, adds flavor," Artemis said.

"Well, regardless, I'll have to have a good talk with Lita later about setting a good example," Luna said. Artemis pushed the bottle past Luna while she was distracted.

"Tell me about it," Artemis said. "I mean, yellowtail wine? What is she, trailer trash?" He knocked the bottle over so the neck was resting on the edge of his bowl, then moved up to the cork at the top.

"Artemis, I am giving you a _direct_ order!" Luna snarled. "Put that bottle back right now!"

"YOU! ARE NOT! THE BOSS! OF ME!" Artemis growled back, back hair standing straight up. "ONLY _I_ AM THE BOSS OF ME!" He pulled the cork off and tilted the bottle forward, Luna glowering at him as his coffee bowl was strengthed by the addition of the cheap wine.

After a few seconds, he propped the bottle back up straight and started lapping at the pooled liquid, Luna still directing a death glare at his hindquarters.

"Sorry," he finally said, bringing his head up from the drink. "I'm not myself right now."

Luna kept right on staring daggers at him, narrowing her eyes further until they were just slits, not making a sound or moving an inch.

"But you are kind of being a bitch."

Luna gave a low, gutteral growl as Artemis went back to his drink.

Amy didn't notice any of this, as she was completely focused in on half dozen screens in front of her, mind racing to process all the information and do something relevant with it. Four of the screens showed almost first person views from each of the field scouts, all of them showing blurred city streets as all four of them were speeding to their designated areas. The fifth showed a overhead map of the entire city, six blinking dots spread across it. One was her, in the warehouse, four belonged to the four other scouts, and the last was Tuxedo Mask. The final screen was sending up a new window alert every time a breaking news story about some sort of attack in the city was published or updated.

"Mercury, I'm in position, please advise!" Lita called out through the radio system. Amy quickly tapped a few keys, and a script quickly ran through all the news stories on the sixth screen. Street names and locations were highlighted, the computer translating them into coordinates on the map and posting them on screen five. Amy quickly checked Lita's position and compared it to her data.

"Three blocks south, a fight broke out in a restaurant parking lot six minutes ago, several injured!" Amy said.

"

Miles away, Lita wasted no time in following up on Amy's recommendation. She dashed down the street, moving against streams of people who were fleeing in the opposite direction.

She only had to go a block to see the reason why. There was a humanoid figure advancing down the street, devoid of any features, entire body black with streaks of an angry red in random locations. It roughly resembled a mannequin, and was quite a frightening sight. About six feet tall, the creature saw Sailor Jupiter and immediately took off right for her at blazing speed.

Lita cocked her fist back and socked the figure right in the forehead, stopping it in it's tracks and pushing it back several feet. It fell to the ground, then transformed into an amorphous black and red blob.

Lita froze, watching as the new enemy instantly remolded itself into the humanoid shape, now standing up. Lita sprung forward, jumping high into the air and preparing another strike.

She came down, fist driving into the chest area of the negaverse monster, but it made no solid contact. Rather, her fist simply pressed into the monster, the chest giving as if it was made out of silly putty, until her arm had passed right through and was poking out of the monster's back.

Suddenly, the monster's body went solid again, trapping Lita's arm right inside it's torso. She tried to yank it out, but it wouldn't budge. She settled for slamming her other fist into the monster's head, but in her position it was largely ineffectual. The monster violently spun around, forcing Lita to come around with it, getting lifted up into the air by it's momentum. Suddenly, her arm was free as the enemy took a liquid-like state again, but this served only to slam her into the side of a parked car.

"Everyone, be advised, enemies are vaguely human shaped, capable of changing state from solid to malleable, physical contact not advised!" Amy buzzed through the radio.

Lita popped herself out of the side of the ruined car, wasting no time in replying with a sizzling snap of electricity aimed directly at the monster. Her blast hit the target square in the midsection, causing it to immediately melt down into a puddle on the ground. She was about to head further south, when the puddle suddenly regrouped into the human shape, not looking particularly bothered by the attack.

Lita tried again, sending another lightning attack at the monster. Once again, it melted into a pool on the ground after receiving the assault, only to pop back up.

"Mercury?" Lita backed away from the enemy slightly. "Not having great results!"

"

"Understood, Jupiter!" Amy rapidly scourged away at the keyboard, head rotating on a swivel between all the screens. "Improvise until I can gather better intel! Enemies seem unaffected by electricity based attacks!"

"

Lita felt her heel touch something as she backed up, and she glanced down to find a hubcap that had popped out of the car she had been thrown into. The beast charged at her. She dropped to the ground, grabbing the disc in her right hand. Giving it a little jolt on the way out, she hurled it at her attacker. Her aim was true, the projectile striking the neck of the figure. The head was separated from the rest of the body, dissolving into a liquid form on it's way down to the ground. Lita pushed herself up, eye on the liquified head. The liquid seemed to quiver back and forth slightly, but it did not rejoin with the host body. The host body did produce a new head, growing out of the torso, but Lita observed the being shrink in size by a couple inches.

"Amy, did you get that?" Lita called out, jumping up and looking around.

"Got it," Amy replied. "Everyone, separate the enemies into segments! Once a part of the body is separated, it goes dormant!"

Lita heard a dull little clang noise from her right. She looked over and saw the car her body had been thrown into. The exhaust pipe had just fallen off the bottom of the car, resting on the asphalt. Worth a try at least.

She threw herself over to the car, landing prone and grabbing the pipe as the monster sprung forward. She rolled away from the attack, spinning up to her feet. She sent a blast of electricity into the beast's chest, again forcing it to dissolve into liquid. Immediately after this happened, she swung the pipe as hard as she could, right through the midsection of the melting figure.

She managed to separate the mass into two, but they both fell into the same puddle all the same. However, this time, when the monster reformed, half the puddle remained in a messy goop. The remaining active parts of the monster came together into a humanoid figure that didn't even come up to Lita's waist.

She picked up this miniature being and began trying to pull it apart at the waist, the monster going solid to try to fight it. Lita's strength quickly proved too much, however, and it was ripped asunder, going into two separate puddles. One shook back and forth, but could do nothing else, while the other took a tiny human form.

With split-second reaction time, Lita turned to her left and brought both of her hands down viciously on the cap of a fire hydrant. The cover clanged to the ground and a high-pressure stream of water spewed from the hydrant, right into what remained of the monster. Still in the process of solidifying it's form, the water served to mix in with whatever the beast was made of, diluting it and separating it, until finally there wasn't anything left.

"It's down!" Lita said, looking around her.

"Half a dozen blocks west!" Amy called out. Lita took off, one eye on the lookout for some sort of bladed weapon she could use.

"Looks like there are multiples in this area," Amy added. "Getting reports of a lot of injuries!"

A minute later, Lita arrived, spying the half dozen creatures climbing up the side of an apartment building. They were breaking windows and terrorizing anyone they could find inside.

Lita was about to draw attention to herself when she spotted an overturned firetruck halfway down the northern street. She took off for it, quickly checking the cockpit for anyone trapped before jumping into the back. Hanging on the walls was assorted firefighting equipment, but her eyes were quickly drawn to one item in particular. She ripped a red fire axe down from the wall, grabbing it's thick brown handle and spinning it around in her hands a couple times.

Satisfied, she leaped back out onto the street, ran to below the apartment building, and stuck her thumb and index finger in her mouth. She screeched out a loud whistle, getting all six negaverse agents to look down towards her. Immediately, they jumped down the building, impacting the ground with great force, surrounding her.

Lita merely smirked, spinning the axe around in her hands. She reached down and yanked a grenade from her belt, pulling the pin and dropping it. In seconds, the surrounding area was encased in a thick fog. The creatures looked around, confused, before hearing the ominous whir of the axe swinging through the air.

"

"Mercury, I'm moving into position," Tuxedo Mask reported. "I see two near the back entrance to the baseball stadium, moving to intercept."

"Understood," Amy answered, processing all the visual information her screens gave her. "Try to move quickly, I've got reports half a mile to the east for you to hit, Mask!"

"

Tuxedo Mask whipped out his cane as he sped toward the pair of foes, giving the collar a good twist and snapping the hollow wood shaft off to reveal a short blade. He stopped just short of the two, both turning to face him.

He brandished his blade, spinning it around. "So, what cut shall it be today, gentlemen?" He pointed the tip of his sword at the one to his left. "Rib, or chop? Loin, or shank?"

Both creatures suddenly transformed their right arms into blades, pointing the newly weaponized appendages at Tuxedo Mask.

"_Bene_," he whispered, twirling the blade and lunging forward at the one on the left. As he stepped forward, he dropped one of his fog grenades from his belt. Just as his sword made contact with his enemies' blade, the grenade went off.

And then, Tuxedo Mask was gone. Both creatures looked around frantically, swinging their weapons around in a panic. As it turned out, he had taken advantage of the distraction to leap up from the street, grabbing onto a streetlight and perching on it.

After a moment, he leaped down, aiming right for one of the two monsters, holding his sword high up in the air. As he landed, he swung his sword downwards, striking the creature with maximum force right in the head.

He split it right down the middle, dividing the monster into two even parts that melted into goopy puddles. Quickly, the left puddle reformed into a half-sized version of itself, but Tuxedo Mask simply picked it up as if it was a small child. He flipped it into the air in front of him, then started a rapid set of slashes with his blade. His movements were so rapid and quick they couldn't been seen with any definition by the human eye. He had performed a good thirty slashes in a single second, and when he was done there was nothing left of the monster but some quivering puddles.

Tuxedo Mask stood there for a couple of seconds, eyes closed, listening intently. The fog wrapped around him, enveloping him in cover. And then, he heard the softest of footsteps behind him. He raised his sword up above his head, pointing it behind him, parrying a blow from the monster's arm just in time. He spun around, swinging his sword with all the power he could muster right into the bladed arm.

The tip of the weapon was lopped off, dissolving into a tiny splotch of liquid on the ground, leaving his enemy with a shortened sword. It transferred some of it's mass to re-lengthen the blade, cutting it's own height by perhaps an inch. Tuxedo Mask simply swung again, snapping the tip off, forcing the monster to repeat the process of shrinking to maintain the sword.

"Cheap materials," Tuxedo Mask taunted. He lunged forward, flicking his sword on the shoulder of the foe, cutting the entire arm off. He followed this up with a rapid slash across the chest, then a downward blow through the head and down through the legs. A couple slashes later, and the creature simply did not bother getting back up from it's puddle.

Tuxedo Mask spun his sword around a few times. "Half a mile east?"

"Yes," Amy confirmed.

"

Mina grabbed the handle to the butcher's knife and wrenched it out from the sheath built into the kitchen counter. She twirled it around for a second, then picked up the end of her chain with her other hand. She pressed the knife handle and the chain together for a moment, the chain glowing a bright yellow for a moment. And then, the two were fused together, placing the large and menacing weapon on the tip of her chain.

"Mercury, I'm ready!" Mina called out, grabbing the chain about a foot and a half away from the blade and spinning it around a few times.

"I've got about a dozen closing in on your position, one of them must have seen you!" Amy said. "They're communicating with each other somehow, must be."

Mina turned around and sped out of the giant restaurant kitchen, back out into the rapidly darkening exterior, holding her modified chain in her hands. Sure enough, she was soon beset on all sides by the strange creatures. She lifted the chain blade over her head and started spinning it around, forcing the many beasts to hang back.

In short order, Mina sped the speed of her chain up until it was moving like a blender blade, giving her a full three hundred and sixty degrees of protection. She slowly stepped forward, watching the ones in front of her back away and hearing the ones behind her follow.

"I'm starting to think these things aren't all that bright," Mina said, glancing down at her hidden chest camera.

"Agreed," Amy replied.

Mina let the chain slide down in her grip, the momentum of her spinning causing it to extend outwards and take on a greater radius of travel. The razor sharp blade dug right into the chests of the monsters, gouging out chunks of mass. They tried to back away from the newly extended weapon, but all twelve of them were caught up in the dervish of destruction before they could react. As this happened, she quickly dropped one of her fog grenades to the ground.

Mina danced forward, wielding the chain gracefully, focusing on the three creatures in front of her. She yanked the chain upwards, changing the trajectory to be vertical instead of horizontal, bringing it down viciously on the one directly in front of her. The blade cut through the shoulder and thigh on it's right side, forcing the monster down into liquid form. She yanked the chain back towards her, letting the blade fly past her and extend out until there wasn't any slack. She whipped it back in front of her when this happened, letting it plunge right through the chest of another foe. The fog grenade took this opportunity to erupt, and Mina retracted her chain back towards her.

A highly uneasy silence followed, the twelve beasts roaming through the fog blindly, swinging their arms around, trying to find Mina. They only succeeded in doing so when Mina would come right up next to one and put it in a vicious spin cycle, dicing it into a hundred little chunks. It was as if she was the villain in a horror movie, silent and invisible until she would choose to reveal herself to claim another victim, the sound of her chain slicing it to pieces the only noise she made. The negaverse monsters weren't capable of feeling fear, but fear was the only sensation that could come close to explaining what they _were_ feeling.

In minutes, Mina had shredded all of her victims, none of them able to so much as even think about trying to attack her, so quick were her assaults.

"Mercury, please advise," she said calmly, letting her weapon wrap around her waist.

"There were explosions in the Best Buy four blocks north and two blocks west," Amy answered. "Twenty minutes ago, so they might have moved, but investigate."

"

"Mercury, I'm in position!" Raye shouted. "I've got about eight of them right here, handling it!" She placed her finger on the ground, a spark jumping off the tip and igniting a fire, which raced forward along the ground to form a line of flame. The flame encircled the eight negaverse monsters, trapping them in the enclosed space. She clapped her hands together, and the circle shrunk down toward the centerpoint, scorching the enemies.

"Mars, that won't work!" Amy reminded her through the earpiece as the monsters went down into liquid form.

Raye had dashed over to a gas station to her right, grabbing a white, forty-gallon container and ripping the spout off the end. She hurled it at the eight creatures as they melted into puddles, gasoline spilling out.

"No, but this might!" Raye replied.

The gasoline mixed in with the unknown substance that made up the mass of the monsters. They tried to reform into human shape, but seemed to fail about halfway through, melting back down into liquids before they could form their lower halves.

Raye simply lobbed a small flame up into the goop, the gasoline serving as a channel for the fire to spread. The monsters struggled before ultimately collapsing, the flames too much. Raye snapped her fingers and the fire disappeared, leaving a small pond of quivering liquid behind.

"Mars, push to the east!" Amy called out. "If I'm reading these reports right, these things are spreading out, trying to force us to move a lot! You'll have to pick them off as you go!"

Raye looked around for a moment, hoping to find some sort of appropriate weapon, but nothing made itself immediately obvious. She took off, headed east, one eye out for a useful blade.

"

Serena ran down the long aisle, looking at the shelves frantically, hearing a symphony of footsteps behind her.

"Gotta be around here somewhere!" she shouted.

And then, she saw it, a row of shining machetes, hanging from a series of hooks, to her right. She quickly lunged toward them, grabbing the handles and yanking them off the wall, two in each hand.

She spun around and flipped one of the long blades in her right hand up high in the air, hurling the other directly at an advancing monster. The spinning blade cut right through the chest of it.

She tossed one of the machetes in her left hand up high as well, chucking the other one at another foe. This one sliced through the waist, rendering it much less combat-capable.

She neatly caught both of her tossed machetes, pointing them at the advancing sea of monsters. She heard a noise behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see more of the alien creatures. She rotated her body a bit, pointing one machete toward either collection of negaverse agents, waiting.

Seconds ticked by as the monsters sized her up, Serena waiting patiently for them to make the first move. Though seemingly a mindless horde, the creatures did seem quite aware of how dangerous this situation was.

Finally, both groups rushed forward, turning their arms into blades, running towards Serena and swinging their appendages wildly.

Serena spun around, deadly blades whirling with her, beating back the initial rush. She parried a strike in front of her and used the other blade to chop the legs off the offender, then immediately ducked to dodge another swing from behind her. She turned and blocked an overhand slice, then kicked her heel right into the gut of one of the attackers. She lunged forward and neatly cut the head off another one, then leaped up high onto one of the upper shelves.

She turned to look down at the crowd, then threw herself into the next aisle over, delivering a strong kick to the shelf as she did so. The very large and heavy support structure fell over, tilting right onto the teeming mass, crushing many of them. She stood up and waited as what remained of the group reformed themselves, rushing towards her with no regard for their own safety.

The first one in line swung at her. She used her left hand blade to knock it to the side and then the right blade to slice the monster in half. The second tried to swing down on her head, but she crossed her two machetes in front of her and caught the blow between the two blades. She started to push the tips of her weapons together, forcing the creature's own blade back at it. She was able to force it all the way to it's forehead, forcing it to liquid form to avoid being cut in half by it's own blade.

Three tried to take her at once, but Serena just swung across her body violently with both blades, forcing them to lean back. She took advantage of their lack of balance by springing forward, tackling the middle one and knocking it back into three other monsters. Then, she simply stuck her two blades out at her sides and swung them up, cutting them at the stomach.

Miniature versions of the monsters rushed her, Serena almost laughing at the comically unthreatening sight. They tried to strike at her legs with bladed arms, but she easy turned their attempted swings against them with superior strength and cut them down even further. In seconds, there wasn't anything left to threaten her.

"Hardware store is clear," she reported. "Lot of em."

"Moon, start moving to the south, they're definitely trying to spread out. Find them, take them down fast, move."

Serena took off for the exit.

"

Amy's head was practically a blur, so fast was she absorbing information from the monitors. A normal person would have been reduced to pounding the keyboard in frustration, unable to come close to keeping up with everything, but Amy kept her mind organized and uncluttered, seeking out relevant points of interest and processing them, then quickly reporting them as necessary, then making room for something else.

"Jupiter, check the police station before you go too far north," she called out. "Some incidents in that area." She glanced at the news monitor. "There we go. Police just declared a state of emergency, declaring martial law. Mars, high priority on getting to the hospital, reports of attacks there."

Luna and Artemis approached Amy, Luna still fuming as she glared at Artemis out of the corner of her eyes.

"In all my life, Artemis, I have _never_, _ever_ been as disgusted with you as I am right now," she seethed.

"Yeah, well, give it a second," Artemis replied. He retched, bending his head down towards the ground, puking up a flood of multi-colored chunky liquid, accompanied by a loud gagging noise. Luna closed her eyes, sighing deeply.

"See? Told you," Artemis said, shaking his head back and forth a couple times.

"I hope you get FIP," Luna growled, going around the disgusting puddle and over to Amy.

"Not even as a joke, Luna!" Artemis frowned.

"I wasn't joking," Luna said menacingly. "Amy, how are we doing?"

Amy pressed the control and shift keys on her keyboard down, looking down at Luna. "Very well, actually. This communication system is a real game changer." She released the two keys. "Moon, no new reports from your area, you'll have to scout it out."

"Well, you were certainly right about one thing, Amy," Luna chimed in. "I don't think I'd be nearly as effective handling all of this information at once."

"Okay people, I think we're going to be okay," Amy said. "Just move methodically. There's going to be plenty of unavoidable collateral damage, but if we keep this up we'll save most of the city. Take it home. Oh, and could someone please bring back a sample of whatever sludge these monsters are made out of?"

Mina answered her request. "You want what now?"

"I want a sample of that liquid that these things are made from, for research purposes." Amy clicked away at her keyboard a few more times. "I don't need very much, but it's important and this is a fairly unique opportunity."

"

**Headquarters, April 26th, 9:45 PM**

"Well, I don't know about you, but I for one am deeply satisfied." Amy turned away from the computer bank, looking at her four fellow scouts and Tuxedo Mask. "Tonight was a realization of everything I had hoped when I put together this system."

"Good job, everyone!" Luna agreed, sitting up on the desk next to Amy. "Tonight was a truly massive assault, and it took superb teamwork and coordination to beat it back like we did!"

Tuxedo Mask furrowed his brow, looking at Luna. "Is that a...talking cat?" he asked.

"Yeah," Serena replied. "What'll they think of next, right?"

"And a huge thank you to you, Tuxedo Mask, for the assist," Amy added, getting up and walking over to the much taller masked man. "It was a big help, really."

"Don't mention it," he said dismissively. "Just doing what's right."

"So humble," Serena said suggestively, leaning up against Tuxedo Mask's shoulder and grinning.

"You weren't so bad yourself." He reached down and grabbed her right hand. He brought it up to his lips and left a light kiss on the back of her fingers. She went bright red and grinned even more.

"Well, I'll see myself off," Tuxedo Mask said, giving a small salute Amy's way. "Excellent job coordinating tonight, by the way, top notch stuff." He departed for the door, disappearing through the protective tarp.

"Tonight was truly a roaring success in every way possible," Luna said happily. She then turned her gaze down to the floor by the desk, scowling. "With one exception."

"I really did think it was fruit juice!" Artemis insisted.

"They smell, exactly, _nothing,_ alike!" Luna snapped. "The biggest negaverse invasion so far, and you go get yourself drunk!"

"And you think an appropriate response to that is to say you hope I get FIP?!" Artemis stood up. "You _know_ that's my biggest fear in life, Luna!"

"We need you engaged in the mission, Artemis!" Luna jumped down to the floor, glaring at her accomplice. "We haven't seen the worst of what the negaverse has to offer, and there will come a day when we need all hands on deck!"

"I know, I know," Artemis said bitterly. "I'm sorry."

Luna rolled her eyes. "And...I'm sorry I said I hope you get FIP."

"Well you should be!" Artemis grumbled. "There's no known cure, you know!"

"So, ANYWAY," Mina said loudly, holding up a sealed glass jar with some shaking black liquid in it.

"Ah yes," Amy said, moving forward and taking the jar. "Thank you so much, Mina."

"What, exactly, are you going to do with it?" Mina asked, following Amy as she went over to the desk and started to examine the muck inside through the glass.

"Well, I'm not sure, but..." she stared at it for several moments, the other girls gathering around her. "Of course, I know nothing about the nature of this material, but...I think it's still alive."

"So let's get it the heck out of here!" Serena said. "Amy, are you sure—"

"Alive, but quite harmless," she said, watching it shake and bubble. "About as threatening as a beached fish, though perhaps closer in nature to those primordial beings that started life on earth all those billions of years ago."

"Would you bet your life on it?" Raye asked. "Because it could really do anything from this point."

"Correct," Amy agreed. "However, I would like to keep this around for at least a few days so I can run some tests."

"Yeah, _super_ uncomfortable with the idea of keeping that thing around our headquarters," Lita said, taking an unconscious half-step back.

"Based on what we saw tonight, at worst it might transform into a very tiny humanoid that is of basically no threat," Amy said. "And I doubt even that."

"Not feeling great about having that thing inside our headquarters, Amy," Luna said, squinting at the jar. "Dangerous or not, it could lead the negaverse here."

"This substance, whatever it is, can currently be found on every single street corner in this city. Even if the negaverse could detect it, it would be lost in the other million piles of slop across the town." Amy tapped the glass a couple times. "However, since I imagine the city will send out cleanup crews at some point, it would make sense to hide this somewhere else until I need it. So, I will go bury it in Meadow Park before I go home tonight."

"As soon as possible, please," Luna said. "I don't like this one bit. Every other negaverse agent we fight melts to nothing after it's defeated, there has to be a reason why this one doesn't."

"

**Darien's Bedroom, April 26th, 10:11 PM**

Darien tapped away at the keyboard of his laptop a few times, bringing up his webcam feed. He killed the record, causing a very long video to be saved to his hard drive. He brought it up and started it, the beginning showing nothing but his empty room.

"Okay, come on, come on," he whispered, dragging the slider on the bottom to the right, fast forwarding through the nothing that made up the first several hours. Finally, he saw himself enter the room, sitting on the bed to read. He kept on going through this part, finally stopping when he started to do chinups against the far wall.

"Come on, come on," he repeated, watching intently.

After a few minutes, he saw the foreign object on his bedside table vibrate and flash multiple colors. Darien put his hand up to his mouth, nibbling on his knuckle. He saw himself start to slip off the bar, but at that moment, the video began to show nothing but static.

"What?!" he grunted, backing the video up a couple seconds. Once again, the moment he thought he saw himself start to black out, the video cut to a black and white swirl. Frantically, he jumped ahead a minute, and saw the static replaced by his empty bedroom. He stood up.

"God dammit!" he shouted, punching his bedroom wall, earning nothing but a dull thud and a sore knuckle for his effort. He turned to look at the object on his table, scowling. He went over to it, grabbed it, and quickly marched over into the other room.

He went into his kitchen, setting the object down on the counter. He ripped open one of his drawers and pulled out a metal hammer used to tenderize meats. Still quite angry, he went up to the black rectangular device and raised the hammer up near his head.

But his muscles wouldn't obey as he tried to direct them downwards onto the object. Strain though he might, his arms seemed to have suddenly decided to go on strike.

He glanced up at his arms, mouth agape slightly. All of the short hairs on his arms were slowly starting to stand up straight. He felt his stomach do a couple flips.

And then, pain.

The worst kind of pain there was coursed through his entire body, he dropped the hammer and screamed, unable to stop himself from bellowing so loud the entire apartment complex must have heard him. His nerves were on fire. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think.

It hurt to be alive.

He dropped to his knees, still screaming in the most horrible of pain, unable to stop himself from putting his hands on the kitchen floor and slamming his forehead as hard as he could down on it.

And then, the pain left as quickly as it came. He laid there, flat on his face, panting, caked in sweat, fighting an oncoming concussion.

Slowly, he rolled over onto his back, wondering why he wasn't unconscious. He glanced at the floor beneath him, seeing a large dent. At best, he should have have been unconscious. At worst, and far more likely, he should have been dead.

And yet, it didn't even hurt all that badly. Not compared to what had just happened.

There was a knock at his front door. He sat up, looking at it.

"Is everything alright in there?"

Darien forced himself to stand up, glancing warily at the object on his counter. He backed away from it, then looked down at himself. Shirtless, covered in sweat, and quite obviously terrified, he'd have to do a couple things to cover this up.

"I'm fine!" he answered, going over to the sink and turning it on. "Just a minute!"


	9. The Mask

Chapter 9: The Mask

AN: Just a quick note here in case it's not already painfully obvious, since it's about to become so in the next several chapters...I'm not being a hardliner about the sailor moon timeline as shown in the anime. As an example, I realize that the scouts discovered that Darien was Tuxedo Mask pretty much right after Mina joined the team, so this fic wouldn't slot into the timeline in a sensible way. I'm playing it loose with the timeline (though in harmless ways) for the purposes of the story I want to tell.

"

**Headquarters, April 27th, 4:00 PM**

"So I was thinking about incorporating some machetes into my uniform," Serena said, hands up behind her head as she casually strolled down the rows of warehouses, making her way to number eight. "At least one. Those things are really handy."

"Okay, Danny Trejo," Lita replied. "As long as it doesn't replace your tiara."

"You know, thinking back on it, last night really wasn't too bad." Mina looked around the largely vacated area. "There were a lot of those things, but they honestly went down pretty easily."

"I'm not saying the negaverse is stupid, but...I wouldn't call them particularly smart, either," Raye added.

As the four girls approached the warehouse, the door swung open to reveal Darien, in his usual green jacket and black pants. His hands were in his pockets and his face was slightly red. He started walking towards the four.

"Hey, dick," Serena said casually as they crossed paths.

"Hey, Serena," he muttered in reply, continuing right by her.

Serena froze mid-step, eyebrow cocked, turning around to look at his back. "Huh?"

Darien stopped as well, turning to look back at her. "Uh, I mean...uh...uh, Meatball Head." He turned back around and kept walking, Serena staring at his back in confusion.

"What the heck?" Serena said quietly, scratching the back of her head.

"What's wrong?" Raye asked as Darien slowly shrunk into the background.

"He's usually a little...quicker on the draw than that," Serena said, turning back around.

"What, you disappointed?" Raye asked.

"Oooh, I think she is!" Mina goaded, elbowing Serena in the ribs softly.

"No, I...it's just kinda weird, is all," Serena replied.

"Poor Serena, deprived of her precious witty banter time with Darien!" Mina continued, cocking a wry smile. "How you live for those back-and-forths!"

"Knock it off," Serena said warningly.

"Just like Benedict and Beatrice!" Mina added.

"Didn't I make you promise to stop saying that I have a crush on Darien?" Serena said through gritted teeth as the four girls filed into the warehouse office.

"Yeah, but if you lob it in there like that, I'm gonna take a cut at it," Mina answered. Amy was seated at the desk, holding an empty beer bottle in her right hand and looking at it with a scowl.

"Hey Amy." Serena set her school bag down by the door. "Something happen with Darien?"

"Why do you ask?" Amy set the bottle down next to five roughly identical ones.

"He just seemed a little...stupider than usual," Serena settled on.

"Well, alcohol can certainly have that effect on the brain," Amy said darkly.

"Did he drink all of those just now?" Lita asked, looking at the half dozen containers.

"Yes." Amy leaned back in the desk chair. "Six percent now."

"Jesus," Raye muttered. "Doesn't he have to drive home now?"

"Seems that way," Amy said, getting up. "And it's a good twenty minute drive to his place from here in this traffic."

"Yeah, well...wait, how do you know where he lives?" Serena watched Amy go over to the warehouse door.

"GPS transmissions from his cell phone," Amy replied simply. "Knowledge is power." She unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"I didn't think you had it in you," Mina said slyly.

"He was acting rather...distracted even before he started drinking, though," Amy mused as the group walked into the warehouse. "He even forgot his cooler here."

"Well, whatever," Serena said dismissively. "You got what you needed out of him, right?"

"Yes," Amy replied, slowly going over to a cardboard box on the long desk against the near wall of the warehouse. "Now, it's time for some R and D, so you four are free to start on your homework."

"So Amy, I was thinking last night," Serena started, sidling up next to Amy as she started placing the contents of the cardboard box on the desk. "The fog grenades are excellent, really useful, so what about going one step beyond?"

"Uh-huh," Amy said quietly, looking down at the computer components in front of her.

"What I mean is, what if we started going into the field with actual explosives? I imagine that'd be pretty useful in many situations—"

"Too dangerous, too much potential for collateral," Amy said quickly, picking up a worn motherboard and flipping it around in her hands. "Out of the question."

"Oh," Serena said. "Okay, sure."

"Now please let me have peace and quiet," Amy said. "This isn't going to be easy."

"What are you trying to make now?" Lita asked, coming up behind Serena and looking at the small pile of parts.

"Now, now, Lita, you know how much Amy loves her little surprises," Mina said.

"I suppose I can give a little hint," Amy offered. "Right now, I think our biggest problem is the wait-and-defend strategy we're forced to implement. Every battle we fight, every negaverse encounter we have, it's all dictated by the negaverse. They act, we react. They attack, we defend. Often, we have to get our information from local news reports, which really puts us behind."

Raye nodded. "Definitely."

"So...what if we changed that?"

"

**Arcade, May 3rd, 4:56 PM**

Serena jerked the joystick back and forth, tapping the buttons with her right hand. Andrew stood behind her, holding a milkshake in his right hand.

"So yeah, incredibly excited to see Rita again," Andrew continued. "But I've got a little problem."

"I'll get Lita to clean your place up," Serena said quickly, eyes on the video game screen.

"No, not that. She's gonna be here in two days and I don't have a present for her," Andrew said uneasily.

"Amazon Prime," Serena said. "Guaranteed two-day shipping."

"Well, okay, but I don't know what to get her." Andrew sipped from his milkshake glass. "I mean, I haven't seen her in five months, what's the customary gift for a circumstance like that?"

"An evening of carnal, animal-like lust?" Serena suggested, mistiming her jump and watching the virtual Sailor V fall to her death.

"Well, obviously that. What else?" Andrew looked around the mostly empty arcade. "I was thinking maybe I could go pick her up a dress—"

"Nonono," Serena said quickly, looking up at Andrew. "Trust me, you do _not_ want to play that game."

"Why not?" Andrew asked.

"You know what her size is?" Serena tapped the primary button, starting the game again.

"Of course I do, she's a—"

"Her size right now, not her size five months ago," Serena interrupted.

"Oh...well, I'm sure that—"

"Five months is a long time," Serena said. "Foreign country, entirely different food choices, stress of being in a strange place, who knows what's happened to her body."

"Huh..." Andrew put his left hand up to his chin.

"You get her one size too small, and it says 'oh, I guess you're fatter than I thought'. One size too big, and it's 'oh, you looked fatter'. It's suicide." Serena pushed the joystick to the right.

"Right, okay. Good point," Andrew frowned. "So then what?"

"What about the good folks over at Zales or Kay?" Serena asked.

"I wait tables at an arcade," Andrew protested. "My paygrade can't even _see_ that paygrade."

"Stuffed animals," Serena said. "Goes nicely with the...animal-like lust."

"Hm." Andrew nodded. "Thanks Serena." He patted her on the shoulder.

Serena's cell phone started vibrating, drawing her attention away from the game. "I gotta take this," she said quickly, turning away from the console and pulling the phone out. She put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Serena, you still at the arcade?" It was Amy.

"Yup."

"I need a big favor," Amy said. "Darien was supposed to be here a half-hour ago, but I haven't heard from him and he won't answer his phone—"

"Nope," Serena said quickly.

"Serena, please?" Amy pleaded. "You're the closest to his apartment, it's like two blocks over from the arcade—"

"Nooooooope," Serena repeated. "Get Raye to do it."

"Raye's busy working, Lita's waiting for the cable guy to show up at her place, Mina's taking care of her sick mother." Amy cleared her throat. "So I really need you to—"

"Nope!" Serena crossed her right leg over her left.

Amy sighed. "There's a twenty in it for you."

"Fifty," Serena countered.

"Twenty-five, final offer," Amy replied.

"Deal." Serena stood up. "I'll bring him over."

"I'll text you the address."

"

**Darien's Apartment, May 3rd, 5:14 PM**

"Rise and shine!" Serena shouted, pounding on the door with both fists. "You're late for work!"

She kept beating her fists on the door for a good thirty seconds, her efforts unrewarded when nobody opened up. She finally stopped, putting her ear to the door and listening. Nothing.

"Ugh. Probably passed out in a ditch somewhere, shirt drenched in cheap cologne and cheaper beer," she muttered, reaching towards her cell phone.

"Can I help you, Meatball Head?"

Serena turned to her right. Darien was standing there, wearing a gray tanktop and grey track pants, towel draped over his shoulders, soaked in persperation.

"O-oh, uh, you were supposed to be at the warehouse forty-five minutes ago!" Serena snapped, hands on her hips.

"What?" Darien wrinkled his forehead. "Oh...whatever." He walked over to his door, pulling out his key.

"Oh no you don't!" Serena walked up next to him. "We're going over there, right now!"

"Wrong." Darien opened his door. "_You_ are going over there right now, I am going into my apartment to take care of some things, after which I will go over there. Now...wait a minute, how do you know where I live?!" He narrowed his eyes at Serena.

"Oh, I just followed the smell," Serena replied snootily. "And you've broken the bond of trust, Darien, so I _will_ be escorting you back to the warehouse!"

Darien sighed. "Fine. Wait out here, I'll come out when I'm good and ready." He walked into his apartment and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Oh, you're not even going to invite me inside?!" Serena shouted.

"Nope!"

"Of all the inconsiderate..." she paused, thinking for a moment. "Hmm..." She cleared her throat.

"Darien, you are three months behind on your child support payments now!" she shouted, voice carrying down the halls. "Jacob is your son too, and you owe it to him to make sure I can afford diapers!" She pounded the door a couple times. "Dammit, Darien, let me in or I'm going to tell Popeye about this, and you're going to need a new set of kneecaps! Take responsibility for—"

Darien ripped the door open, a death glare directed at Serena. He reached his hand out and covered her mouth with it. "_Shut up!_"

Serena grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand down. "I have Popeye on speed dial, swear to God!" She yelled.

"Just get in here!" he relented, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into his apartment.

"Whew!" Serena exclaimed, waving her hand in front of her nose. "The scent of roofies in here is just _overwhelming_."

"You know what?!" Darien seethed, hands clenching into giant fists.

"I recommend lysol. Maybe two or three cans," Serena added, smirking.

"Okay. Here's how this is going to work," Darien said through gritted teeth. He grabbed a dinner table chair from the small carpeted area by the kitchen. "You are going to sit right here, sitting on your hands, the entire time you are here. You may get up only when I say I am ready to leave. Do you get me?"

"Nice pad," Serena said, ignoring him entirely. "I mean, for a vampire, so you probably feel right at home."

"Meatball Head. You are a _guest_ in my apartment, so—"

"_So_, Darien, it's common courtesy to offer a guest a beverage." Serena crossed her arms over her chest.

Darien growled, then stomped over to the kitchen. He ripped open one of his cabinets, pulled a glass down from one of the shelves, and shoved it under the sink faucet for a second, blasting a half-inch of lukewarm tap water into the container. He marched back over to her and offered her the glass.

Serena took it, looking down at it. "No ice," she grumbled, setting it down on the kitchen table.

"Hey, Meatball Head, there's this new thing called coasters!" Darien snarled.

"Oh please! I couldn't make the resale value on this place go down with a sledgehammer and a pound of C4! Now, what do you need to do before we go?"

"Well, first, I need to shower." He walked over towards his bedroom, Serena following. He opened the door, trying to swing it shut behind him as he entered, but Serena caught the knob and followed him in. "And then, I need to masturbate."

"Ewwwwwwwww!" Serena wrinkled her nose.

"So unless you want to help, with either or both, get out of my bedroom." Darien pulled his tanktop up over his head, exposing his damp back to Serena.

"You've got five minutes!" Serena said, quickly regaining her composure.

"I've got as long as I want," Darien retorted.

"You're almost an hour late already, so maybe you can skip applying your makeup today." Serena sat down at the foot of Darien's bed.

Darien turned around. "Hey, I don't remember telling you sit down on my bed!"

Serena's eyes were drawn to Darien's chest and abs. There was no denying he was chisled, and inspite of the situation, she couldn't help but staring at his perfect six-pack and broad, barrel-chest.

"What?" Darien snapped, breaking Serena out of her two-second trance. "You see something you like?!" He put his arms out to his sides.

"N-no!" Serena said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then stop eye-banging me," he grunted, walking over towards his bathroom door.

"I wasn't!" Serena insisted, going slightly red in the cheeks.

"Yeah, yeah. You've flown so far into the danger zone you can't even remember which way to go to get out." He stepped into his bathroom, grabbing the sliding door. "Now get the hell out of my bedroom!"

"Oh, congratulations, you finally got to say that line to a woman!" Serena said haughtily. "First time for everything!"

Darien reached over to the inside wall of the bathroom, pressing a button. His speaker system jumped to life and started playing Pearl Jam quite loudly. He slammed the door shut.

Serena sat there, fuming for a moment. She heard the shower turn on over the raucous noise of _Even Flow_, then slowly stood up. She turned towards the nightstand, when something caught her eye. A small, black object, roughly rectangle-shaped with bits of clear plastic around the outside. She approached it slowly, staring at it intently.

"...wait..." she muttered, reaching her hand down to grab it. A couple inches short, she thought better of it and retracted her hand. She glanced back at the bathroom door, still closed.

"No, no it...it can't be." She grabbed her cell phone, quickly bringing up Amy's number and calling it.

"Hello?" Amy greeted after the second ring.

"Amy, it's me, listen—"

"Oh, Serena, what's going on with Darien?" Amy asked. "And is that music?"

"Y-yes, and Darien's fine, I'm at his place right now. Can you hear me okay?"

"Barely," Amy said. "What's going on?"

"He's showering, we'll be there...soon, uh, can you do something for me, Amy?" Serena asked, looking at the device worriedly.

"What's up?"

"Uh, can you...can you try to signal Tuxedo Mask?" Serena asked, eyes darting back to the bathroom door.

"...do you need him?"

"N-no, it's just...look, it's complicated, and kind of weird, but I just need you to use the signal." Serena bit her lower lip.

"What am I going to tell Tuxedo Mask if he shows up here?" Amy asked.

"J-just tell him it was a false alarm. Listen, I need you to trust me here, just hit the button, there's something...something fishy going on here."

There was a short pause. "Okay, Serena, I've got it. Ready?"

"Hit it," Serena said.

A second later, the little device started to vibrate and blink multiple colors. Serena started at it disbelievingly for several seconds, mouth dropping open slowly.

"Serena?" Amy buzzed in. "Serena, what's going on?"

The phone slipped from Serena's fingers, dropping to the ground. Serena felt knots tying up in her stomach. She started shaking, oblivious to Amy trying to get her attention from the phone at her feet.

"No...no..." she whimpered.

And then, she looked up at the ceiling and let loose a truly bloodcurling scream.

"**AUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH **!"

The windows fought to not shatter under the audio onslaught, and the only reason why the entire building didn't think someone wasn't getting murdered was the loud music. A few seconds later, Darien stumbled out of his bathroom, wearing a bathrobe, hands covering his ears.

Serena, somehow, was still screaming, her lungs performing better underneath the immense stress. Darien approached her, hands still clapped over his ears.

"SERENA, WHAT?!" He shouted, trying to be heard over her screeching. He would have turned down the music if he wasn't afraid of others in the building being able to hear her. "WHAT'S WRONG?!

Finally, after several more seconds, she stopped, then slowly turned her head to look at Darien. He jumped back a couple steps at the sight, her face contorted into a mask of loathing that intimidated even him.

"_You!_" she growled, voice a few octaves lower than usual. She advanced on him. He backed up into the bathroom and killed his speakers.

"Me what?! What about me?!" Darien asked.

Serena pointed her index finger right at Darien, face twitching with rage and entire body shaking. "_You..._you...you killed Tuxedo Mask!"

Darien froze, staring at her. She stopped just short of him, panting air in and out of her nose, looking ready to shoot flames out of her eyes.

"Wait. _What_?!" Darien shouted, looking at her. "What are you _talking_ about?!"

"DON'T PLAY INNOCENT WITH ME!" She screamed.

"Serena, Serena, keep your freaking voice down!" he hissed, motioning his hands downwards.

"You killed him! You killed Tuxedo Mask!"

Darien shook his head a few times. "Serena, you gotta slow down, what the hell is a Tuxedo Mask?! If that's supposed to be an insult, that's terrible—"

"You're not fooling me, you murderer!" Serena turned her body slightly and pointed at the device on the nightstand. "You killed him and you took a trophy!"

Darien's mouth fell open slightly as he followed her finger. "W-wait. Serena, do you know what that is?!"

"_Yes_, Darien, I do!"

He walked over to her, fighting the urge to reach out and grab her collar. "What is it?! Tell me!"

Serena was so incensed, all thoughts of secrecy had flown out of her mind and landed in another area code. "We gave that to Tuxedo Mask as a signal! So, tell me, why do _you_ have it?!"

"Serena, Serena, what is a Tuxedo Mask?! Is that a...like a nickname for one of your friends—"

"Oh, cut the act, Darien, you know exactly who Tuxedo Mask is! Crusader of justice, ally of the Sailor Scouts, a frequent partner in defeating negaverse minions—"

"Okay, uh...Serena, you're not making any sense, just...just sit down, and I'll call a doctor." He tried to push her towards the bed, but she pushed him away roughly.

"_You're_ the one who's gonna need a doctor when I'm done with you!" she roared. "Or a mortician!"

"Serena—"

"That object on your nightstand was given to Tuxedo Mask as a signal! We'd use it to alert him whenever we needed his help!"

"W-who is we?!" Darien asked.

"We, the Sailor Scouts!" she replied harshly. "So, care to try to explain why it's in your possession, _Darien_?!"

Darien stood there for a moment, mind racing. Slowly, he started making connections, brain doing mental math to slide in Serena's crazed rants with what he knew.

Suddenly, everything started to slot into place. Things added up, impossible though they seemed.

And then, he felt a sharp crack inside his head, and then felt nothing. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed to the floor, landing with a loud thud.

Serena's mouth fell open slightly as he fell, brow furrowing. "D-Darien?" she asked timidly. He didn't move. Regaining her fury, she marched over to him and kicked him in the side. "Oh no, you're not gonna get out of this one by pretending to faint!" She kicked him again. "You are going to get up, and I am going to shatter every single bone in your body to avenge Tuxedo Mask, you hear me?! Get up!"

But Darien didn't so much as stir. She bent down, grabbing his large wrist and placing her fingers on it. She held it for several seconds, but could feel no pulse.

"W-wait...Darien?" She nudged him slightly. "Darien? Oh...crap!"

She jumped up upon hearing a sharp knocking at the window. Mina was standing there, in Sailor Venus form, perched on the fire escape. Serena quickly ran over to the other side of the room and undid the window latch, pulling it open.

"I got here as soon as I could, Amy said you—" Mina's words died in her throat as soon as she laid eyes on Darien's unmoving figure.

"I...I don't know what happened," Serena said quietly.

"Oh my god, she killed Darien!" Mina gasped. She looked down at the bow on her chest. "Guys, Serena killed Darien!"

"N-no, I didn't!" Serena insisted as Mina went over to Darien's lifeless figure. "He just sort of...keeled over!"

Mina rolled Darien onto his back, looking his face over. "No visibly obvious method of killing, possible use of poison."

"Mina!" Serena shrieked. "I didn't kill him, I swear, he just—"

"Serena, listen to me," Mina said slowly, getting up and approaching Serena. "How soon can you be packed to leave the country?"

"Mina—"

"We're going to need a country with no extradition, does China sound okay to you?" She looked around the room.

"Mina, please!" Serena ran up to Mina and grabbed her hands. "I know this looks bad, but I didn't even touch him! He just fell over, I swear!"

"Serena, I...I wanna believe you, I really do. But even if I did, no jury would, so what I need you to do right now, is tell me your opinion of Madagascar, because you won't last a week in jail."

"Holy _crap!_"

The two blondes spun around to find Raye, in Mars form, leaping from the fire escape into the room.

"Mina, I thought you were joking!" Raye's eyes bugged out. "She actually did it, guys, he's dead!"

"C'mon guys, I wouldn't...you know I wouldn't _kill_ him...wait." She looked over at the nightstand. "And even if I did, he would have deserved it!"

"My God, Serena!" Raye exclaimed, rounding on her. "Can't you control your hormones for five seconds?!"

"Raye, I swear I didn't kill him!" Serena shouted. "I wish I did, but I didn't, I need you to believe me!"

"Well, I don't!" Raye countered. "Do you have any idea what you've done?! Not only have you committed first-degree murder, you've endangered the Sailor Scout's entire operation!"

"Wait, wait," Mina said. "What do you mean, he would have deserved it?"

Serena cleared her throat. "It just so happens that, right before he keeled over, I discovered that Darien killed Tuxedo Mask!"

Mina and Raye stared at her for several seconds, a deafening silence enveloping all three of them.

"Huh," Mina said. "You know, if you keep talking like _that_, you might be able to dodge jailtime. Just get sent to an insane asylum. I mean, would you be okay with that?"

"I'm telling the truth!" Serena shouted. "He—"

"_Serena Naoko Tsukino!_"

Lita was standing on the fire escape now, Luna and Artemis tucked under either of her arms and Amy riding on her back. Luna wormed out of Luna's grip and jumped down to the carpet.

"I really, really didn't want to believe it, Serena!" Luna shouted, looking down at Darien's body. "I really can't believe you've done it!"

"Serena..." Lita trailed off as Amy jumped off her back.

"G-guys, I know this must look really, really bad for me, but I _swear_ it wasn't me," Serena said, voice shaking.

"Yeah, Serena," Lita said unconvincingly. "You just keep on...practicing that speech to the jury."

Serena moaned, looking at Artemis desperately. "Artemis, you believe me, don't you?!"

Artemis looked to the side uneasily. "Uh...I'd rather not take sides."

Amy had dashed to Darien's side, grabbing his arm and lifting it up. She tried to feel a pulse. She put her arms on his chest, face falling with every passing second. She pounded his chest a couple times, then started pulsing her hands on it to simulate a heartbeat. She moved up to his mouth, holding it open and blowing air down his throat.

She did this for several minutes, everyone watching in silence. Finally, she stood up, body shaking. Her mouth curved down into a furious scowl that none of the girls had ever seen on her before.

"A-Amy, you believe me, right?" Serena asked weakly.

Amy clenched her fists and started breathing rather loudly, closing her eyes and tilting her head down.

"Amy?"

"Okay, Serena," Amy said through gritted teeth. "This is your _one_!" She turned around to face her, holding her index finger up in the air. "We've been through a lot together, so this one time, I will help you get rid of the body. But next time you kill someone, you are on your own!"

"Amy, I—"

"_And_, when we get back to headquarters, you are going to sit, quietly, and listen to me lecture you for a good three hours, and if you say so much as a single word I will start over!" She glared at Serena with fury that she had never shown herself capable of before. "And then, for the rest of this month, I don't want to hear you _breathe_, got it?!"

Serena looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Guys, please, somebody, I...I didn't do it, you gotta believe me, somebody!"

Lita sighed. "Serena, please. You gotta stop with that. If Amy's gonna help you, then so am I, but...I'm sorry, it's pretty obvious." Mina wandered off into the corner of the room, fidgeting away from the tense scene.

"What do I have to do to make you guys believe me?" Serena asked, eyes watering. "You guys know me, I wouldn't—"

"How about a single shred of evidence that doesn't paint you as the obvious killer?" Raye asked, glaring at Serena.

"L-like what?"

"Uh...guys?"

Everyone turned to look at Mina. She was in the corner of the room, looking at a small laptop computer with an integrated webcam along the bezzle. The screen was showing a live feed of the bedroom, and a timer indicated that the webcam had been recording for the last several minutes.

Immediately, Amy darted over to the computer, ending the recording and causing a video file to generate. She clicked on it and brought it up.

"Last chance to change your story," Raye said, looking at Serena. Serena, however, was obviously overjoyed and had already run over to the computer.

"Motion detection..." Amy muttered to herself as the video started playing. The door swung open and Darien entered, followed closely by Serena. The audio wasn't particularly good, so she turned it up as loud as it could go.

"Why would he do that?" Lita asked, eyes glued to the screen as Serena and Darien bickered back and forth.

"He has a lot of motion detection video files on here," Amy said quietly. "Maybe he's paranoid."

"Then stop eye-banging me."

"I wasn't!"

"I know I was," Mina said. Serena shot her a nasty side glare. "What? I'm only human."

The group watched Darien disappear into the bathroom, losing any relevant audio thanks to the loud music. They watched Serena make her phone call for a minute, then watched something on the nightstand start to flash multiple colors. Everyone gasped in shock except for Serena.

"Oh yeah, which reminds me, I have a little dark secret to share about Darien once I clear my name," Serena said, regaining her composure.

Serena started to scream on the video, which drew Darien out of the bathroom. Finally, the music was turned off, and the two started to yell at each other. As their conversation played out, Mina, Raye, Lita and Amy all started to exchange glances, each line peeling back another layer of the mystery.

And then, the Darien on video fell over onto his face, Serena looking at him in momentary shock, before going up to him to kick his side. Amy paused the video, then expelled a small breath.

"Well." She cleared her throat. "It would seem that I...may have rushed to judgement." Slowly, she turned to look at Serena, who was frowning with her hands on her hips.

"Ahem," Serena growled, glaring right at Amy. Amy got up and slowly approached her, eyes downcast and hands clasped in front of her.

"Serena, I am _incredibly_ sorry," she said quietly, still not making eye contact. "I was wrong to assume the worst of you, and I promise it won't ever happen again. So, from the bottom of my heart, I apologize." She meekly extended her hand out towards Serena. "Forgive me?"

"Yeah, yeah," Serena said, extending her hand and shaking Amy's. "Seriously not cool of you, though. After everything we've done together."

"Well, can you blame us?" Raye protested. "I mean, based on what we knew at the time, it was pretty obvious—"

"Raye!" Amy snapped, glaring over at her. "Now is not that time."

Raye grumbled something under her breath. "I'm...sorry, Serena," she forced out.

"Later," Serena insisted. "I don't have time to listen to a bunch of apologies. We have a bigger concern. As that video should have made quite clear, Darien has killed Tuxedo Mask!"

The four other girls glanced at each other uneasily, Serena now stomping around the room angrily.

"He killed him and took our signal as a trophy, that son of a bitch! So, while I didn't kill him, he deserved to die, obviously. In any case, Lita, run down to the hardware store and pick up a bag of lime powder to dissolve the body. We'll take care of that, then there will be time to mourn the passing of our knight in shining armor."

"Uh...Serena..." Amy said, coming up next to her friend, arms clasped in front of her.

"My God, I can't believe he's really gone," Serena moaned, hanging her head. "He was so...perfect. Darien must have snuck up on him, no way he'd beat Tuxedo Mask in a straight fight."

"A-actually..." Amy bit her lower lip. "Serena, what if—"

"Look at me, I'm a mess!" Serena wiped her forehead. "I have just gone through the full gamut of emotions in the last half hour, I need to cool down, I'll use the kitchen sink." She left the room, headed toward the small kitchen.

"Y-yeah, Serena, you do that," Amy called out, easing the door shut behind her. As soon as it was shut, she turned to the other three girls and two cats in the room. "Okay, who's going to tell her?"

"Not me," Mina said immediately. "She might literally pop a blood vessel out of anger, I'm not gonna have that on my hands."

"Yeah, I'm not piling on," Lita agreed. "Forget it."

Amy looked at Raye. "I suppose this is your territory."

Raye shook her head. "Actually, I'd really rather...not."

"I thought you loved winding her up?" Amy asked.

"I do, but this...this is too much." Raye glanced down at the ground. "I mean, winding her up is one thing, but I don't want to crush her soul."

"Well, I don't want to do it either," Amy said. "Which means..." the four girls looked down at Luna.

"I have to live with her!" Luna protested. "The least you people can do is be the bearer of bad news."

They turned their gaze to Artemis, who looked away immediately.

"Artemis, please?" Amy begged.

"Uh...no-speakee-the-english," he said.

"Well, what do we do?" Lita asked.

"Okay, okay..." Amy pointed at herself, Raye, Lita and Mina in turn. "0, 1, 2, 3. We go on the count of three, the sum mod four has to tell her. Deal?"

The girls nodded.

"One, two, three!" Amy cried, throwing two fingers up in the air. Raye put up one, Lita put up three, and Mina put up one.

"Okay, seven," Amy said. "Seven mod four is three, so...Mina, it's all yours."

"Ooohhhhh," Mina groaned. The door swung open, Serena marching in.

"Okay, I feel much better now, so where are we on that lime powder?!" she said loudly.

"Uh, Serena..." Mina slowly went up to her side. "Okay, so, first, I just want to say how sorry I am that I didn't believe you earlier—"

"Mina, you can do the ass-kissing bit later, we have a job to do!" Serena said, looking down at Darien's body.

"Okay, that's fine, but...you don't hate me, do you?" Mina asked warily.

"Of course I don't hate you, Mina. You're my friend, a little friction never did anyone harm." Serena patted her back.

"Okay, but...would you say you're _close_ to hating me? Like, on the brink?" Mina looked at Serena hopefully.

"No, Mina, don't worry about it. I couldn't ever actually hate you."

"Okay, that's really good to know." She sighed. "So...what if Darien _didn't_ kill Tuxedo Mask?"

A hopeful smile popped up on Serena's face. "You're right, Mina! He...he could have just wounded him!"

"Y-yeah, that's possible...or maybe—"

"Maybe he just pickpocketed him! Or broke into his house...that would definitely be a Darien thing to do..." Serena scratched the back of her head. "Yes, Darien could never kill Tuxedo Mask! We'll have to form a search party to track him down—"

"Serena, I think Darien _was_ Tuxedo Mask!" Mina shouted quickly, immediately averting her gaze from Serena as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

Serena was silent for several seconds, then gave a harsh little laugh. "Yeah, right. So, anyway, lime powder?"

Mina went over to the other three, hunched over slightly. "Okay. I told her, she didn't believe me, I'm done," she whispered.

"B-but—" Amy started.

"D-O-N-E." Mina walked past Amy.

Lita sighed, then walked over to where Serena was pacing. "Serena, honey, I'm not saying this because I want to hurt you, I swear, but...I think that story makes a lot of sense."

"Puh-leese, Lita," Serena said dismissively. "I'd sooner believe Melvin was Tuxedo Mask. Darien wasn't anywhere close to enough of a man to be Tuxedo Mask, not even close. It's impossible."

"Serena, I—"

"Okay, fine!" Serena cried. "Prove it! If he's Tuxedo Mask, then where's his dresscoat? Where's his mask?" She went over to the closet and pulled it open. "I'd be shocked if you found anything nicer than a pair of khakis in this dump, and I sure don't see any mask!"

"Well, Serena, it might not necessarily...work like that," Lita said slowly.

"Hey, turnabout is fair play. How about I see some proof before you start assuming things, huh?" Serena demanded. She walked over to the nightstand. "So, until I see a mask, I will treat your crazy claim with the disrespect it deserves!" She pulled the nightstand drawer open, looked down in it, and her mouth quickly fell open. "Whoa."

"What, you find it?" Lita asked quickly, all five girls running over to look down into the drawer.

"No, but..."

Eight wads of twenties were resting at the bottom of the drawer, haphazardly stacked on top of each other.

"Man, that was one paranoid guy," Raye said. "Recording video of his bedroom, storing cash in a drawer instead of a bank..."

Amy clapped Serena on the shoulder cautiously. "Serena, you see this?"

"Yeah, it's the money we paid Darien," Serena said bitterly.

"Not quite," Amy said. "How many thousand dollar bundles do you see down there?"

Serena looked down into the drawer for a second. "Eight."

"Right," Amy said slowly. "Now, I only gave Darien seven bundles."

"Okay? He obviously has other sources of income," Serena said, shrugging.

"Serena, look at the paper bands. They're identical, all of them."

Serena bent down to look at them. "Coincidence."

"Other than the seven bundles we've paid Darien, we've only given out two others that still had the paper band on it," Amy continued. "Do you remember the two I'm talking about?"

"Yeah," Serena said casually. "I gave one to Darien, which he gave back and I burned, and the other I gave to—"

"—Tuxedo Mask." Amy looked down at the ground. "Now, I am not trying to upset you with this, I'm just trying to help. So, if we've given Darien seven, and Tuxedo Mask one, and Darien has eight, what does that mean?"

Serena glanced down at the money again, brow furrowing. "That...that son of a bitch, he stole Tuxedo Mask's money too!"

Amy clenched her eyes shut in frustration. "Serena, no, I—"

"Serena, Darien was Tuxedo Mask!" Raye said loudly, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her up into a standing position. "It's the only thing that makes sense, it's the only possible explanation, and I am sorry to have to tell you this, but it's the truth!"

Serena laughed. "Guys, I appreciate the attempted use of humor to deflate a very tense situation, but that's really enough. There's no way, in this universe or any other, that Darien could have been—"

"AHHH!"

Darien jolted up, making everyone in the room jump back and gasp. Darien looked around wildly, sucking in deep lungfuls of air, wide-eyed.

"Darien?!" Amy yelped. "B-but you had no pulse for—"

"Ohmigod!" he gasped, frantically trying to stand up. "What...what happened?!"

"Darien, sit down, don't try to get up so fast," Lita said, but Darien wasn't paying attention.

"I...I remember!" Darien said, looking around the room. "I remember...everything now!"

"Remember what?" Raye asked.

Serena finally snapped out of her shock. "Oh, good, Darien. You're alive. Now I can kill you!" She started to advance on Darien.

"T-the blackouts, I'm...I'm Tuxedo Mask!" Darien exclaimed, looking down at himself in shock.

Serena froze midstep for several seconds, then expelled a harsh breath. "Okay. Was this all a big prank that you guys organized?" She pointed at Darien. "And he's in on it too?"

"No, Serena, shut up, it's...I can remember now, I'm Tuxedo Mask!" Darien rubbed his eyeballs. "But...I don't..."

"Alright." Serena closed her eyes. "I can appreciate people sticking to an act for as long as they possibly can, but I'm not amused anymore."

"Maybe...maybe I can..." Darien closed his eyes and put his hands out at his sides.

"So I'm being serious here. All of you, knock it off before I—"

Darien started to grow a bright white, silencing Serena. About two seconds later, his bathrobe had been replaced with an impeccable dresscoat, he was wearing a white mask over his eyes, and was holding a black cane and wearing a top hat. Darien looked down at himself, jaw hanging open.

"Oh my _God_," he muttered, looking down at his cane.

"Wow," Raye said quietly.

Serena stood there, stock silent, face devoid of expression. Slowly, her face started to fall, mouth drooping open as if she had just seen a ghost. Color drained from her face, and she started to shake.

"Lita!" Amy shouted.

Immediately, Lita reached over and grabbed one of Darien's pillows. She pounced on Serena, pressing her back against the floor, and put the pillow over her face just in the nick of time.

"_MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !_"

Nearby eardrums were saved only by the pillow's dulling effects, as Serena vocalized her duress and horror to the absolute best of her abilities. Lita kept the pillow plugged right over her face, hopefully preventing neighbors from hearing it.

"Thank you, Lita," Amy said.

"

AN: Okay, so, I was pretty happy with that chapter. Probably my favorite since four. Glad to really get the plot moving again.

Update might come this weekend, not sure.


	10. Tension

Chapter 10: Tension

"

**Darien's Apartment, May 3rd, 6:04 PM**

"_MMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH H!_"

"Serena, sweetie, you need to stop before you tear your vocal chords!" Lita said, still holding the pillow firm over her face. "Come on, stop, please!"

Darien looked around at the five girls and two cats, mouth hanging open. "W-wait a minute." He pointed at Serena. "You're...you're...no, it can't be, it's impossible!"

Serena finally stopped screaming and Lita removed the pillow, revealing a sicky and zoned-out looking Serena. Amy quickly moved over to the door, grabbed a small garbage can, and handed it over to Serena as she sat up.

"What's that for?" Lita asked.

"Just a hunch," Amy replied. Serena suddenly stuck her face into the can and started vomiting, Lita quickly putting her palm against her back in sympathy.

Darien looked around at all the girls. "No, it's...you guys...you guys are—"

"Yeah," Mina said meekly. "Worlds collide, huh?"

"No," Darien said, shaking his head and backing towards the wall of his bedroom. "No no no no no no no no! This is _not_ happening!"

Serena coughed a few times, a few more blobs of goop falling into the bucket.

"Lita, could you please go clean her up and settle her down?" Amy asked.

Lita patted Serena's back, then slowly helped her to her feet. "Alright Serena, everything's gonna be okay, you just keep your mouth over that bucket." Lita guided Serena over to the door, escorting her out into the living room. "Everything's gonna be fine."

"Okay...okay. Amy. It is vitally important that you set me straight here." Darien went over to Amy, reverting back into his bathrobe in a flash of colors. "I need you to tell me that Serena isn't Sailor Moon!"

"I could, but it would be a lie." Amy went over to the bedroom door and shut it. "Serena is, in fact, Sailor Moon. Her, me, Raye, Lita and Mina form the five Sailor Scouts. These are the facts, and they are indisputable."

Darien sat down on the foot his bed, shaking his head back and forth. "No no no. No! There's no...okay, maybe you, I can see." He pointed at Amy. "Lita, sure, I guess. Raye, maybe, whatever. And Mina...I don't even really know you, so why not, but there is no way that that obstinate, braindead brat is a superheroine!"

"Well, Darien, give it time and you'll come to terms with it," Mina said. "Now, how about you answer some of our questions?"

"I agree," Amy said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Care to explain why you've been going out of your way to help us fight the negaverse for the past seven months?"

Darien grimaced. "I...I don't know!"

"Then tell us what you _do _know," Amy insisted.

Darien sighed deeply. "Okay. About seven months back I started...blacking out all the time. Randomly. At first it was almost every night. I saw doctors, but they couldn't explain it, and nothing they did worked. Last few months it's slowed down, maybe once a week at most. Every time, I'd be out for at least an hour, maybe two, and it seemed like I was going out and doing something every time it happened. I tried everything to figure it out, nothing worked." He rubbed his temples. "That's all I knew until five minutes ago."

"And what happened five minutes ago?" Raye asked.

"I don't...I guess something clicked, and I...I can remember now. I can remember what I was doing when I blacked out. I'd put on that ridiculous outfit and go fight monsters. I'd...I'd become a completely different person." He squeezed his eyes shut. "My God, listen to me, I sound like a psychopath! T-this has to be some sort of dream or hallucination!"

"Hmmm," Amy said, closing her eyes in thought. "You can say that as many times as you'd like, Darien, but I'm afraid you're wasting your time. Your subconscious is already clearly convinced."

"What do you mean?" Darien asked.

"Some form of split personality disorder," Amy said, starting to pace back and forth. "Random blackouts awaken your other half, and the two halves remain unaware of each other, all this time, until now. And that whole time, you've been searching for answers. Anything that might solve the mystery of your blackouts."

"Yeah, of course," Darien said, shrugging.

"And you never found anything even remotely believable, until Serena filled in some of your information deficiencies, providing a reasonable explanation."

"Wait, wait," Darien interrupted. "Meatball Head's 'explanation' was just as unbelievable as anything else."

"Admittedly, her story was unlikely, but not impossible. And obviously, she was very wrong on one count, but she said enough truth to fill you in. Clearly you believed so, Darien. After all, hearing what she had to say seems to have triggered something significant within you. If not her words, then what else?"

Darien looked down at the floor, jaw clenched in determination.

"Now, you claim you have all your memories back, the two personalities merging into one, which would only happen if you truly believed in all this. So you may feign to believe you are hallucinating, but deep down, you know that this is reality." Amy nodded with finality.

"You're full of it," Darien grunted, standing up. "There's nothing even close to believable about any of this, least of all anything that came out of Serena's stupid mouth."

"Then there's only one alternative," Amy said. "You've completely lost your mind and can't trust any of your senses. Pick one."

Darien massaged his head with his large hands, grimacing. "Okay. Let's say I believe your explanation, and I'm not saying I do. Why?"

"Why what?" Mina asked.

"Why am I Tuxedo Mask, why can I do the things I can do, why am I...compelled to go help you guys, why everything?!" He wiped his face.

"How should we know?" Raye shrugged.

"Because I sure as hell didn't _want_ any of this!" Darien said bitterly. "Do you have any idea how much of a burden this has been on me this last half-year?! What about you guys, why are you guys...Sailor Scouts or whatever?"

Amy pursed her lips. "I don't know. We don't know. We just are."

"Well, I'm gonna need a better answer than that from somewhere!" Darien pushed his fingers through his hair.

"

Lita handed Serena the mug of tea, softly patting her back. The two were seated on the couch in the primary room of the apartment, Serena staring off into space. Serena slowly took the mug.

"You're gonna be okay, honey," Lita said quietly. "You just let those bad feelings wash right past you."

Serena said nothing, slowly lifting the mug to her lips and sipping.

"You know, obviously this was all pretty shocking and stressful, but honestly I think it's worked out pretty well!" Lita said, wrapping her arm around the back of Serena's shoulders. "I mean, you didn't kill Darien, Darien's still alive, Tuxedo Mask is still alive...all things considered, this really ended up on the positive side for us! You know?"

Serena closed her eyes.

"Think about it! You don't have to move out of the country, we've still got our caped savior alive and well, and heck, now you even know his true identity! So—"

The tea mug shattered in Serena's hands, shards of plastic and the tea falling to the carpet. Serena clenched both of her hands into small fists, knuckles white, body starting to shake.

"Uh...Serena?" Lita said quietly, edging away from her.

Slowly, Serena's nostrils started to flare and her mouth curved down into a frown. She started to shake, then slowly stood up.

"Serena, you just lost a lot of body fluid, so I think you should sit down!" Lita got up and tried to push her back down to the couch.

And then, in a flash of colors, Serena had morphed into her Sailor Moon form. She was still scowling deeply, body still quivering uncontrollably. She turned towards the bedroom door, eyes narrowing into slits.

Lita quickly jumped up and stepped between Serena and the door, arms out wide. "Serena, I really have to advise against this! I understand you're emotional right now, but—"

"Lita." Serena's voice was barely recognizable under layers of baritone. "Out. Of. My. Way."

Ordinarily, Lita wouldn't have even flinched under such an order. She would need only a second to turn into her own superheroine form, and would need only perhaps ten seconds more to incapacitate Serena with any one of five finishers, backed by her far superior strength. She didn't _want_ to fight her friend, sure, but extreme circumstances called for extreme measures, and she was confident she could avoid actually hurting her.

But the unabashed fury that was clearly coursing through Serena's entire body did something that almost never happened. It intimidated Lita, to the point where she wasn't sure if it was wise for her to try to physically engage her. She really did seem _that_ angry. Quickly, Lita's expression of determination melted away, as she also began to realize that, more than anything, Serena _needed_ to have this one.

Slowly, she shuffled out of the way, meekly putting her hands behind her back.

"M-my mistake, Serena."

Serena stomped over to the bedroom door, stopping right in front of it and slowly picking her right foot up.

"Well, I'm gonna need a better answer than that from somewhere!"

_CRACK!_

Serena lashed her foot out right into the door, heel connecting with the wood right in the center. The force of her blow was so fierce, it knocked the door right off it's hinges and sent it flying across the room.

All four humans and both cats in the room looked at Serena in shock. Serena slowly advanced on Darien, each of her deliberate steps shaking the room.

"My God," Darien uttered. "She...she really is Sailor Moon."

"_Darien. Dickhead. Shields._" Serena raised her fists up in front of her.

Darien had no quick retort ready, no counter. His jaw hung slack, mind forced to accept the indisputable reality that Serena Tsukino, girl of the failing grade, bottomless stomach, and video game addiction, was Sailor Moon.

"Wait. Is your middle name actually dickhead?"

"Mina, not now!" Amy warned.

Darien snapped out of his shock, cocksure personality jumpstarted by Mina managing to break the tension. He glared at Serena.

"What's your problem, Meatball Head?!" he growled.

"I am going to peel all the skin off your body, sew it into a throw rug, AND THEN SET THAT THROW RUG ON FIRE!" Serena seethed.

In a flash, Darien turned back into Tuxedo Mask, giving his cane shaft a twist to reveal the short blade. He pointed it at Serena.

"Oh, I would _love_ to see you try," he menaced. "And you owe me a new bedroom door, by the way. Maybe I'll use the money I make selling your organs after I'm through with you."

"NO!" Amy ordered, jumping between the two and holding her palms out towards either. "No, this is not happening! You both need to calm down, right now!"

"I'm plenty calm," Darien said. "But if she tries to so much as lay a finger on me, then I _will_ reply in kind."

Amy turned to Serena, palms held out. "Serena, listen to me. I know you're upset. And that's okay. But you can't do this."

"Amy—"

"You are going to transform back. Darien is going to transform back. And then, we will resolve this situation using _words_. Okay? _Words_. Can you do that for me, Serena?" Amy stared her friend down, panting under the stress.

Serena stood there, chest heaving, for several seconds.

"Allow me to be the mature one," Darien said begrudgingly. There was a flash of light, and he was wearing his bathrobe again, back to being an ordinary human being.

Slowly, Serena dropped her arms to her sides.

"Calm. Calm." Amy slowly brought her hands down. Serena turned back into her own regular form, donning her schoolgirl uniform.

"Good." Amy went up to Serena, a comforting smile on her face. "Now. We are going to sit down and quietly discuss all of this, and through that discussion, we will all come to understand exactly what has happened, and what is going to—"

Serena stepped around Amy, almost pushing her to the ground as she went past her, rounding on Darien with a fierce glare. "YOU TWO-FACED, LYING LITTLE PERVERT!"

Amy spun around. "Serena, no! That's not quietly discussing this!" She was about to go and try to grab her, but before she could, Lita gripped her should from behind and spun her back around.

"Amy. Let her have this one," Lita said seriously. "She's beyond reason."

"B-but—"

"I know, Amy, I know. But you can't put out an oil fire. You just have to let it burn itself out." Lita patted Amy on the shoulder. "Water will only make it worse."

"W-wait, pervert?!" Darien repeated, so confused by her choice of insult that he was again taken off his game. "How am I a—"

"Oh, don't even _try_! Stalking us all around town, waiting for us to fall into peril, swinging in at the last moment to save us, DON'T THINK I DON'T GET YOUR GAME!" Serena pointed an accusing finger right into Darien's face.

"Serena, you've got it all wrong, I—"

"What was the next step in your master plan, Darien?! When were you planning to try to lure us here?! Get us all enamored with you, trick us into coming here, have your way with us, I know _exactly_ what you have kicking around inside that sick little head of yours!"

"N-no! Serena, I didn't even know—"

"Well guess what, _Darien?!_ Operation White Knight has failed! OPERATION! WHITE KNIGHT! HAS FAILED!" She was just a couple inches away from him now.

Amy opened her mouth to say something, but Lita quickly clamped her hand over her mouth. "Remember, Amy. Oil fire."

"I knew you were a jerk, Darien, but even I didn't think you'd stoop _this_ low!"

"Serena, listen to me, I didn't even know I was Tuxedo Mask until just now!" Darien insisted, holding his hands out defensively.

"Oh, yeah, I _sooooooooooo_ believe that!" Serena said. "Give me a break, Darien!"

"No, really!" Darien backed a step away from her. "Serena, if you won't listen to me, listen to Amy!" He pointed over at Amy. "I wasn't trying to trick anybody, it was a...a split personality or something!"

Amy roughly pushed Lita's hand off of her mouth. "Serena, he's telling the truth!"

Serena looked over at Amy, still simmering with loathing and hatred.

"I know it's hard to believe, but it...it makes sense. It's complicated and strange, but...I think he's being honest."

Serena fell silent, glancing around the dark room, cogs slowly cranking away in her mind. Everyone was afraid to move or make a sound.

Finally, she looked back over to Darien, still glowering. Darien took the opportunity to go on the offensive.

"That's right, Meatball Head!" he shouted. "As a matter of fact, you should be on your hands and knees, _thanking_ me!"

Serena grimaced.

"I've saved your pathetic life about fifty separate times! So next time you think about insulting me, just think about where you'd be right now without me instead!" Darien pointed his right hand thumb at himself. "Serena, Sailor Moon, it doesn't matter _who_ you are, you always find yourself needing me to bail you out!"

"Whatever," Serena grumbled through gritted teeth, turning around and stomping out of the bedroom. "WHATEVER!"

"That doesn't sound like gratitude to me, Meatball Head!" Darien followed her out into the living room, the four girls cautiously following him.

"Kiss my ass!" Serena spun around violently. "First of all, you didn't even know you were doing it, SO IT DOESN'T COUNT!"

"Yes it does," Darien retorted, crossing his arms over his chest and smirking, which only incensed Serena further. "You're alive, and without me, you'd be dead, end of story."

"SECOND of all," Serena continued, "me and my friends spend countless hours every single day fighting the negaverse, and you think you can just swoop in when it's convenient for you and take credit?! Well, you've got another thing coming!"

"Well, I guess it's good that you're already thinking like that, because—"

"THIRD of all, Darien, before you use this to inflate your already oversized ego, me and my friends NEVER NEEDED YOUR STUPID HELP IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Serena shrieked.

"That's good, Meatball Head." Darien walked into the kitchen. "Because I'm done with all of this! I have a life to live, and from this day forward, that life will no longer involve any of this garbage! So you girls are on your own from here on out, because I am officially re—"

Darien's voice caught in his throat, unable to say the final two syllables of the word. Serena didn't notice, but the other four girls looked at him. Darien's mouth was open, but nothing was coming out. Darien reached up with both of his hands and grabbed his throat, rubbing it. Then, slowly, his arm hairs started to stand up.

And then, he screamed in agonizing pain, reaching up to grab his head and squeezing his eyes shut. Everyone in the room jumped. Darien brought his forehead violently down onto the counter, smashing right into the marble cutting board, breaking it in two pieces. He fell to the floor in a heap, panting.

"DARIEN!" Amy yelped, running over and bending down next to him. "Are you okay?!"

"NO, I'M NOT!" Darien roared, jumping to his feet and looking around the room with wild, feral eyes. "WHO DID THAT?!"

"N-nobody did that!" Amy insisted, holding her palms out at Darien. "Nobody!"

"Serena..." Darien turned his gaze onto the blonde girl. "Words are one thing, but if you—"

"I didn't do anything!" Serena stuck her nose up in the air. "But it serves you right!"

Lita looked at the cracked marble sheet. "H-how are you not dead?!"

"Okay, that's it, everyone get out!" Darien pointed at the front door. "EVERYONE! I've had enough of this, everyone out!"

"Don't need to ask me twice, you pig!" Serena replied, marching for the door and beckoning her friends to join her. "Come on, ladies! All ashore from El Casa De La Date Rape!"

Mina failed to supress a small chuckle, which immediately earned a withering glare from Amy.

"Seriously, Mina?!" Amy snapped. Mina shrunk down under the gaze, looking down at the ground.

"Ahem," she said uneasily. "Wildly inappropriate."

"Yeah, you think?" Darien growled.

"Whatever you say, Tyler Durden," Mina countered, quickly following Serena out of the apartment, Darien's burning gaze on her back. Raye and Lita dashed into the bedroom, picking up Luna and Artemis respectively, and then beat a hasty retreat out of the apartment.

Slowly, Amy turned to Darien, a hopeful smile on her face. "Soooo, obviously, today was a very...emotional experience, and tensions are running high. But I hope that, once we all get a chance to calm down, we can—"

"Get out!" Darien pointed at the open doorway. Amy spun around and hightailed it out into the hallway.

"

**Serena's Bedroom, May 3rd, 10:51 PM**

"Oooooh, can you _believe_ the nerve of that guy?!" Serena said. She was sitting up in her bed, hands at her sides and squeezed into fists.

"Yes, Serena. The nerve of that guy, saving your life all those times," Luna replied, sitting on Serena's nightstand. "I really wish you could have controlled yourself better today, the Sailor Scouts's job just got quite a bit more difficult."

Serena put Luna under a baking glare. "Luna, you're already on thin ice." She held her right hand out, thumb and index finger just a couple millimeters apart. "I am _this_ close to making you sleep outside tonight."

Luna turned her head to look out the window, a vicious rainstorm battering everything that wasn't covered. She bowed her head, turning back to Serena. "I'll be good."

"Good," Serena growled. "I swear, if I never see Darien Shields again, it'll be too soon!"

"I have a feeling you won't need to worry about seeing him," Luna said.

"Here's hoping."

Luna swallowed. "And I'm sorry. About today."

"I mean, God, Luna, I'm standing there _begging_ for someone to back me up, to defend me, and you just join right in with the rest of them!" Serena folded her arms over her chest. "I know it looked bad, but after everything we've been through together you'd think I'd get at least a little bit of the benefit of the doubt from at least one of you!"

"I'm sorry." Luna looked down at the carpet. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Serena gave a little grunt, closing her eyes and leaning back against her pillow.

"And I'm also sorry about Darien," Luna added. "I know you really liked Tuxedo Mask, and today was...well, I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Serena replied quietly. "Me too."

"

**Warehouse Complex, May 4th, 3:51 PM**

"This is going to be really tricky."

Amy, Raye, Lita and Mina were seated on a bench right outside the gates that opened up to the rows of warehouses.

"I'm sorry, Amy. There's no way you could have expected this would happen." Lita patted her back.

"I did make some backup plans incase we had a falling out with Darien. I always knew it was possible." Amy reached up and rubbed her forehead. "But we have an awful lot of things tied to Darien's name, and a very small window to change all that. Nothing's guaranteed."

Raye sighed. "I'm still tired from yesterday. God, was that exhausting, all the yelling and...well, pretty much just the yelling."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I kind of miss the Serena who would just start crying whenever something bad happened," Lita mused.

"Yeah, it's at least a debate," Raye agreed.

"Guys, when Serena gets here, remember to be supporting and positive," Amy said. "She's calmed down from last night I'm sure, but she's still in a delicate place, and I wouldn't blame her if she was still a little upset at us."

"Yeah, of course," Mina said. "You don't think...maybe we could talk Darien into changing his mind?"

"I highly doubt it," Amy said, then turning a stony gaze at Mina. "And you didn't exactly help matters yesterday with your smart mouth, Mina."

"I'm sorry!" Mina threw her hands up in the air. "I was trying to defuse a dangerous situation with a little bit of humor! It's what I do!"

"Well, next time, don't," Amy said coolly. "Anyway, we need to find someone else to handle finances for us. But there's no replacing Tuxedo Mask, and that's what I'm really afraid of. We're in a lot of trouble." She bowed her head. "I...really wish I had a second chance on yesterday. I think I...I think I could have talked her down. I have no idea what we're going to do."

"We'll find a way," Lita said. "We weren't completely dependent on him."

"He was an invaluable asset," Amy said. "Losing him weakens us dramatically, and there's no real way to make up the difference. I'm really worried that we can't win without him." She looked up the street and saw Serena approaching down the sidewalk. "But let's not talk about that around Serena for now. Remember, supporting and positive!"

A half-minute later, Serena was at the gate, and her four friends got up to join her.

"Hey," she said quickly, signalling the gate guard to open up.

"Hello, Serena," Amy said warmly, patting her on the back. "You doing okay?"

"Oh, just peachy," Serena grumbled.

"So listen," Amy said as the five girls moved through the gated area. "We all feel really rotten about yesterday. That's not what being friends is all about, and we made a big mistake."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Serena replied, sticking her hands in her pockets. "I mean, I guess we all make mistakes, right?"

"Right. But, to make it up to you, we all pitched in and got you something." Amy pulled a folded up piece of paper out of a side pocket of her bag, presenting it to her. Serena took it and unfolded it, revealing a gift certificate for an all-day pass at the spa.

"Well, that's sweet of you guys," Serena said, a tiny smile appearing on her face. "Thanks a lot."

"Every last penny came out of our pockets," Lita added, patting her on the shoulder. "Didn't touch the operations account. Because you're worth it!"

"Really?" Serena looked over at Raye. "Even Raye?"

Raye grumbled something to herself, eyes darting away from Serena.

Lita put her lips next to Serena's ear. "The spa was Raye's idea," she whispered. Serena smirked.

"I don't see why _we_ had to pitch in," Raye said bitterly. "It was all Mina's stupid fault."

"Hey!" Mina protested.

"You got there first and you told us that she killed him!" Raye put her hands on her hips. "You planted the idea in our heads! If you didn't say anything, we probably wouldn't have thought that!"

"Raye!" Amy said warningly.

Raye grimaced, then sighed, but nevertheless took the harshness out of her voice. "I'm sorry, Serena. I messed up. Enjoy the spa."

The gang got close enough to see their warehouse, and saw a truly surprising sight that caused them all to freeze. None other than Darien Shields was standing by the warehouse door, arms folded, looking rather unhappy, but present all the same.

It took Serena maybe a second and a half to react, but she was quick to narrow her eyes into fiery slits and start a quick march towards him.

"And just _what_ do you think you're doing?!" she hissed. Amy dashed in front of her, holding her hands out, an uneasy smile on her face.

"Serena, Serena, listen to me!" she begged. "I-I understand your anger, I understand it completely, but I need you to do me a big favor and let me talk to him first, okay?"

Serena glanced around, feeling her other three partners come up behind her. After several tense seconds, she gave a curt nod, and Amy turned to sprint over to Darien.

"Darien!" she said, trying to sound upbeat. "I must admit, I didn't expect to see you—"

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect to be drafted into babysitting a bunch of junior high girls," Darien said harshly. "But life sucks."

"So you've changed your mind?" Amy asked hopefully. The other four scouts came up to listen to the conversation, standing behind Amy. Lita stood behind Serena, ready to grab her in case she tried something.

Darien sighed. "There isn't a single fiber of my being that wants to do this. But I've decided that there's no way I'm leaving the fate of the planet up to five fourteen-year-old girls." He turned his hot gaze to Serena. "_Especially_ when one of them is Meatball Head." He looked back to Amy. "Planet wouldn't last another week, and as much as I sometimes wish I didn't...I live here."

Amy nodded, smiling cheerfully.

"So, from this moment on, you girls are to include me in every stage of all your operations in fighting the negaverse, _and_ grant me executive power to alter any and all plans as I see fit." Darien knocked his knuckles against the wall of the warehouse behind him.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Serena roared, moving to advance on Darien. Lita quickly grabbed her wrists and yanked her back, wrapping her arms around her chest to keep her back.

"I'm sure we can come up with an arrangement that pleases everyone," Amy said, bowing her head slightly at Darien.

"Maybe one that involves her dead body?" Darien pointed at Serena as she struggled to break away from Lita.

Amy turned to look at Serena. "I'll...smooth things over." She stepped forward and unlocked the warehouse door, guiding Darien in. The girls all followed, Serena trying to get away from Lita and yelling.

"Amy, don't you _dare_ think for a _second_ that I'm going to go along with this!"

Amy gestured towards the inner door, and Lita dragged Serena through it and through the tarp on the other side. Raye and Mina followed. Darien went to enter the main room as well, but Amy put her hand up in front of him.

"Actually, Darien, could we...have a moment to talk with Serena, privately?" she asked.

Darien shrugged, then went over to the desk chair and plopped down. "Take your time, I'm hourly." He put his feet up on the edge of the desk and leaned back, hands up behind his head.

Amy dashed through the doorway and locked it behind her, pushing through the tarp to find Lita trying to force Serena down onto the couch.

"Lita, it's okay, let her go!" Amy commanded. Lita complied, allowing Serena to spring up and round on Amy.

"Okay, Amy, you listen to me! I work really hard at this whole Sailor Scout thing, and I sacrifice a lot, but there are some lines I can not cross!" She put her face right up to Amy's. "And this right here is one of them! Now, I am going through that door, and I am going to tell Darien to screw off, _right now_. The decision you need to make is who you're going to side with!"

She tried to shove past Amy, but Amy jumped in front of her.

"Serena, please, wait," she pleaded. "B-before you do that, let's talk about this! Can we do that? Talk?"

Lita came up behind her, putting her hands up to grab her. "I'll hold her down," she offered.

"No!" Amy yelled, throwing her palms out at Lita. "No, you're not going to hold her down. Nobody's going to touch Serena, because this is a discussion." She looked into Serena's glowing eyes, trying to calm her with a comforting gaze. "We're just talking, there's nothing physical, nothing threatening, none of that. Just us, talking. We are talking to you about what you are going to do next, before you do it, so you can understand what you are doing. Is that okay, Serena?"

Serena snorted out a blast of hot air from her nostrils. Lita shrunk back slightly.

"Talk," she finally relented.

"Now, Serena, I know you don't get along with Darien—"

"Wrong!" Serena interrupted, leaning in even closer to Amy. "I didn't get along with him _before_ yesterday! Now, after yesterday, I _despise _him with the passion of a thousand suns!"

Lita stepped back to join Mina and Raye, all of them watching the 'discussion' with bated breath.

"I hate him more than I have ever hated anything, ever!" Serena backed off from Amy slightly, fingers clenching in and out.

"B-but, Serena, he didn't know!" Amy protested. "He had no idea he was Tuxedo Mask, he wasn't trying to trick you—"

"It doesn't matter what he was _trying_ to do, Amy!" Serena screeched. "It only matters what he _did_!" She looked away for a second, uncontained hatred momentarily replaced by genuine hurt on her face. "And he did trick me. He had me...falling all over myself for him. I was _nuts_ about Tuxedo Mask! Crazy about him. He...he had me head over heels with a fiction! Madly in love with something that wasn't real!"

"Serena, he didn't mean it—"

"But he did it!" Serena looked back at Amy, hatred back in full force. "And for that, I can never, _ever_ forgive him, and I will never, _ever_ work with him!"

"Serena, it's okay to be angry with him, really," Amy said, trying desperately to calm her down. "I'm not asking you to like him, I'm not even asking you to not hate him! I just...I just need you to tolerate being around him for a little while."

"Can't do it!" Serena proclaimed loudly.

"Serena, I need you to do something for me, okay?" Amy asked. "I need you to reach down, deep into yourself, and find the part of you that's Sailor Moon. Okay? Can you do that?"

Serena stood there, scowling, eyes flicking to the tarp-covered door.

"N-now, Serena, I want you to listen to that part of you. Listen to what it tells you. Because deep down, in that part of you that wants nothing more to protect the earth and defeat the negaverse, you know that we need Darien as an ally!"

"Forget it!" Serena snarled, trying to step past Amy. Amy shuffled back to stay in front of her, careful not to touch her. "We don't need that creep!"

"Yes, we do. Serena, we really do. We need Darien, and we really need Tuxedo Mask. If you do this, you've weakened our capabilities to fight the negaverse considerably, is that what you want? Think about this!"

"Well, I don't care!" Serena stopped trying to get past Amy, rooting her feet down on the concrete. "I don't care how much we need him, I'm _not_ going to work with him. Amy, I'm scout leader, and I am putting my foot down, this is _not _an option!"

"Serena, please, be reasonable!" Amy begged. "Y-yes, you are leader, nobody is disputing that! But even if you tell him you don't want to work with him, he's not going to just leave, you heard what he said!"

Serena stormed past Amy. "Which is why, after today, we are going to find another location for meetings and research! Some place he won't know!"

Amy turned around, watching Serena advance on the door with horror. "Serena, I—"

"Maybe I'm not making myself clear, Amy." Serena turned around, hands on her hips, almost snarling. "So let me make this as simple for you as I can. Either he goes, or _I_ go."

Mina winced, and reached over to grab Raye's hand. She gave it a tight squeeze, trying to calm herself. Raye returned the squeeze, feeling a similar bubbling sensation in her stomach.

Amy cowered back slightly. "Serena, you c-can't—"

"So, Amy, what's it going to be? Who's more important to the scouts? Me, or him?" She raised an eyebrow at Amy.

Amy looked away from Serena, mouth open slightly, shaking a little bit. "Please, listen—"

"Answer the question, Amy!" Serena ordered, advancing back on her menacingly. "Who do you need more?!"

"Y-you, Serena, of course!" Amy's face was become slick with sweat. "B-b-but we need Darien too!"

Serena scoffed, stopping just in front of Amy. "Just like you, Amy, to give an answer like that!" She pushed her hands out into Amy's chest roughly, knocking her to the ground, drawing a gasp from the three observers.

"Hey, Serena—" Raye started, taking a step towards the argument.

Immediately, Amy threw her hand out towards Raye. "Raye, stay out of this!" Running out of options, she got to her knees and put her hands together in front of her chest. "Serena, please, look, I'm begging you!" Her eyes were starting to water. "We really, really need him on our side, I'm just asking you to tolerate him, that's all! D-do it for me!" Her voice was starting to shake.

Serena rolled her eyes, giving a cruel smile. "Do it for you?! You, who won't even believe me when I say I didn't kill someone?!" She turned around, heading back for the door. "Why should I have your back when you don't have mine?"

"S-Serena, wait!" Amy called out. "Then do it for...then..." she winced. "How much money do you want?!"

Raye, Lita and Mina stared at Amy in shock.

"Oh, please!" Serena snapped, approaching the door. "You wouldn't even let me spend it on things I want, so what's the point?!"

"Serena, you know why I can't!" Amy said, pushing herself back up to her feet. "B-but you can spend it at the arcade all you want, all the candy you want, as long as you—"

"Not worth it!" Serena said, just a half dozen steps from the tarp. "Sorry, Amy, but this is happening, so pick your side!"

Amy squeezed her eyes shut, putting her hands up to her temples.

"C'mon, Amy! Think! Thinkthinkthink!" she said under her breath. Suddenly, her eyes flew open, just as Serena was pushing the tarp to the side. "SERENA! I'll...I will do ALL your homework for the rest of the school year!"

Silence. Dead silence. Serena froze, hand maybe two feet from the doorknob. Raye, Lita, and Mina had their mouths hanging wide open, eyes bugged out, staring at Amy, trying to get themselves to believe that Amy had just said what they thought she just said. Amy stood there, afraid to move, a helpless grimace on her face.

Slowly, Serena turned her head around to look back at Amy. She was still scowling, but her expression seemed a little more conflicted.

"You're...you're bluffing," Serena said.

"No, Serena." Amy stood up straight. "I'm not. You heard me. I'll do all of it. Every last bit of it. Just...come over here."

Slowly, Serena peeled herself away from underneath the tarp and approached Amy. "You...you could never bring yourself to do that."

"Serena, look at me," Amy asked. Serena complied. "I'm not lying. Cross my heart and hope to die, I'll do it."

Serena exhaled deeply. "Amy. W-when you say...do my homework...do you actually mean you'll just help me do it or you'll...remind me to do it—"

"No, no," Amy said in a hushed voice. "You'll barely have to look at it. You give it to me, I'll do it, I'll give it back to you, you look at it enough to answer questions about it, you turn it in. I can do that."

Serena glanced over at the other three scouts, who were still frozen in abject shock. "T-this is a trick, or some...some kind of test! You're testing my...my ethical code, or something."

"No, Serena, no. I swear on my mother's life." Amy shook her head.

"You're gonna...gonna use this to try to teach me some kind of lesson about the value of hard work—"

"All of your homework will get scores between eighty-two and ninety-one," Amy said. "No one will suspect a thing, I'll make sure of it. All you'll have to worry about is in-class assignments and tests. I'll set you up with good homework scores, you shouldn't have a problem passing your classes."

Serena closed her eyes, going into deep thought.

"Think about how much you hate homework," Amy continued cautiously. "Think about five weeks without any homework. Think about only needing a fifty-five on your math final to pass."

Serena tapped her foot on the concrete a couple times.

"Think about...think about how upset your parents will be if you have to repeat junior high," Amy added. "Think about them raising your allowance as a reward. Serena, please." She folded her hands together in front of her again. "We really, really need this."

Serena opened her eyes. "You had better be on the level."

"I am. You can trust me." Amy's voice was still shaking a little bit.

"Can I?" Serena questioned. Slowly, she extended her right hand out towards Amy. With no small amount of trepidation, Amy reached her own arm out and shook it.

"Okay, let's...take ten minutes before we go talk to Darien, compose ourselves," Amy said, weakly walking over towards Raye, Lita and Mina. Serena went over to the couch in the corner and sat down, closing her eyes.

Amy practically collapsed into the waiting arms of Lita, moaning quietly and nearly crying. Lita patted the back of her head.

"Oh you poor thing!" Mina said quietly. The four edged away from where Serena was sitting. "I'm so sorry you had to do that!"

Amy buried her face into Lita's chest. "I can't believe I just agreed to that."

"Neither can I," Raye said, rubbing her left shoulder. "You're not actually going to...do that, are you?"

"I have to," Amy groaned, keeping her voice low. "You heard what I said, I don't have a choice!"

"But...Amy—" Mina started.

"You think I want to do it?" she whispered. "Of course not, it...it goes against everything I believe in, it's the very definition of academic dishonesty, we'll both get a ton of trouble if I'm not extremely careful...but I had to do it!"

Lita brought her in close, hugging her tightly. "This is so unfair for you, sweetie, really, if you backed out I wouldn't blame you one bit."

"If I back out, we lose Serena or Darien," Amy said. "And we need both of them to beat the negaverse! So I...I did what I had to do, and I'll do what I have to do to protect the planet. I got a mulligan on what happened yesterday, I had to do whatever it took to make it right."

"This isn't right," Raye said, looking at Serena out of the corner of her eye.

"We're going to need them both," Amy said. "We will. If we lose one of them, there _will_ come a time where we won't be able to hold out, I promise that. The whole planet hangs in the balance, so whatever we have to do to hold all of us together, we do it."

"Yeah. I wish certain so-called leaders could feel the same way," Raye snorted, glancing at Serena again.

"Maybe I'm naive but...I kinda can't believe she actually made you agree to that." Mina looked at the back of Serena's head. "I mean..."

"Yeah, this is...this is bad, isn't it?" Lita looked down at Amy, then back to Serena.

"It's...uh, it's not good." Amy grimaced.

"

I got on a nice writing roll and finished this much sooner than I expect, so I figured what the hey. We'll see how that roll continues going forward.


	11. The Enemy of My Enemy is My Enemy

Chapter 11: The Enemy of My Enemy is My Enemy

"

**Headquarters, May 4th, 4:29 PM**

Amy opened the door out to the small office room, Darien glancing over out of the corner of his eye. Amy poked her head into the room.

"Darien, welcome aboard," she said quietly. "You may enter."

Slowly, Darien got up and followed her into the main room, pushing past the tarp and looking around at the five girls slowly. Serena was still seated at the couch, eyes closed, and the other four were standing just a few feet away from him.

"From now on, Darien, you are a part of all Sailor Scout operations, from conception to planning to execution," Amy said. "All of us will be working together to defeat the negaverse."

"By all of us, are you including..." Darien's eyes lingered on the back of Serena's head.

"Yes. She's not in the best of moods right now, but she has agreed to our joint merger." Amy looked over at Serena as well. "And, when it becomes mission critical, I'm confident that she will act in the best interests of the scouts. I'll make you a key for the warehouse as soon as possible, and feel free to come to all meetings."

Serena stood up, opening her eyes, and spun around on her heel.

"Oh, look, she's...already feeling better," Amy said, no conviction in her words as Serena marched over to Darien.

"Okay, Darien, you win this round!" Serena hissed.

"Duh?" Darien gave a little smirk. "I always win, especially when my opponent is a junior high dunce."

"BUT, if you're going to join _my_ team, you're going to play by _my_ rules!" she continued.

"Let me guess," Darien said. "Rule number one, I have to walk around without a shirt at all times."

"Rule number one, Darien, is you have to change your title!" Serena jabbed her finger into Darien's chest. "I will not allow you to associate yourself with the name Tuxedo Mask anymore! So, you need a new title, the picking of which I am in charge of. From now on, your field name is Dickbag."

"Funny stuff," Darien growled, narrowing his eyes into slits.

"Shut up, Dickbag!" Serena ordered. "Which brings me to rule number two. Don't, _EVER_, speak to me! _EVER!_"

"It's like you read my christmas wish list," Darien said under his breath.

"Rule number three, the very second the negaverse is defeated and our job is done, I want you to leave and I NEVER want to see you again, got it?!"

"Fine by me!" Darien snapped. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Good to see we're on the same page, Dickbag," Serena walked back over towards the couch, Darien glaring at her back.

He turned to Amy, speaking through gritted teeth. "If she calls me that one more time, I swear—"

Amy ran over to Serena, jumping in front of her and grabbing her shoulders. "S-Serena, I...we need to modify some of your...er, proposals."

"They weren't proposals," Serena replied coolly.

"Serena, we...we had a deal, and I need you to put forth just a...a little more effort into this, okay? I need you to stop with the...the D-word stuff." Amy dropped her hands away from Serena's shoulders. "You can't call him that anymore, okay?"

"No problem, I've got like a hundred other names that should work fine!" Serena turned around to find Darien approaching her. She put her fists out in front of her defensively.

"Serena, you are to call him Darien!" Amy said loudly. "Tuxedo Mask, or Mask, when he's in the field! If you want me to honor our deal, then I need some cooperation from your side!"

Serena put her hands on her hips, chewing the inside of her cheek.

"And, Darien, you in return will refer to her as Serena," Amy instructed. "Sailor Moon, or Moon, when in the field. Fair?"

Darien gave a tiny little groan from the back of his throat, but nodded.

"Second, Serena, you two will have to speak to each other at some point, and when that time comes I need you to be amenable to that." Amy folded her arms. "If the success of an operation depends on it, I expect you to be willing to talk to him, understand?"

Serena muttered some obscenities that would have gotten her grounded for two weeks if her parents heard her, but bobbed her head just a few degrees up and down.

"Beyond that, how you two choose to interact with each other is your business. However, and this is the most important of all, there _will_ be times where you two will have to work together in the field, and I expect that you will both follow orders, act in the best interests of the Sailor Scouts, and not let your personal feelings get in the way." Amy looked back and forth between the two. "Are we clear?"

Darien and Serena stared each other down. Finally, Darien broke the contest by looking over at Amy. "Fine."

"Serena?" Amy turned to the blonde.

"But of course," Serena whispered hotly.

"Now, I need to see a gesture of good will between you two. Serena, like we just spoke about."

Slowly, Serena removed her right hand from her hip and inched it forward, out in front of her chest, about halfway between the two. Her tiny hand was shaking, but it held in place inspite of Serena's face clearly standing in contrast to the gesture.

"Darien?" Amy prompted.

"Whatever," Darien said, not moving his hands from his pockets.

"Darien, this isn't easy for her," Amy said warningly.

"Yeah, well, neither is walking and chewing gum at the same time, so—"

"Darien, I need willingness to compromise from you both if this has any chance of working!" Amy insisted. "I need to believe that you two are capable of putting aside your disagreements long enough to accomplish tasks in the field!"

Reluctantly, Darien pulled his right hand from his pocket and crept it forward, slowly wrapping his fingers around her palm. The moment Darien made light contact, Serena whisked her hand away, then stepped past him.

"Thank you, Darien," Amy said. She leaned in closer to him, covering her mouth and whispering. "I'm sure her disposition will improve as time goes by."

"Hey, it's okay," Darien said, grinning again, making sure he was loud enough for Serena to hear. "I understand what she must be going through!"

Serena kept on walking towards the empty end of the warehouse, headed right towards the dead end, not particularly caring that she wasn't headed anywhere.

"I mean, having to spend so much time around me? Must be so intimidating!" He cupped his hands over his mouth, aiming the makeshift amplifier at Serena's back. "She's just all tied up in knots because she's realizing just how deep she is in the—"

"DON'T!" Serena screamed, turning around and swinging her arm up, pointing at Darien. "DON'T! SAY IT!"

You could have heard a pin drop in the warehouse, Darien savoring the moment for all it was worth.

"..._danger zoooooone._" Darien's voice carried all around the warehouse. Serena snarled.

"S-Serena!" Amy yelled. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off, go spend the rest of the evening at the arcade?"

Serena marched back over from the unused portion of the warehouse, still scowling, hands still clenched tightly into fists.

"Yes, you go play, Serena. We'll handle things here, fill him in with what we know." Amy nodded.

Serena stopped in front of Amy, then pointed a single finger in the direction of the couch. Amy looked over and saw Serena's school bag.

"O-oh, yes, Serena, I'll get right on that," Amy said uneasily. With that, Serena walked over to the door, ripped the tarp to the side, opened it, stepped through, and slammed it shut behind her.

"You do realize you're rewarding her for acting like a bitch, right?" Lita said, eyes on the door as the tarp settled back down to cover it.

"I had to get her out of here!" Amy said through gritted teeth. "Darien, can you please not wind her up like that? This is going to be hard enough as it is."

"No promises," Darien replied.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Amy said, walking over towards Raye, Lita and Mina.

"Okay, so, wait," Raye said sternly. "If I throw a massive hissy fit, act incredibly selfish, and blackmail you into doing my homework, will you let _me_ take a day off too?"

"Raye, I'm sorry, but we need to be really careful with Serena right now!" Amy whispered. "I don't like it either, but we need to appease her until she calms down a little!"

"Not sure she's ever calming down," Mina said dryly.

"Well, we have to hope!" Amy looked around at the three. "And I can't control Darien, so you three need to be extra-careful. Kid gloves!"

"Are we _sure_ we need her?" Raye squinted in the direction of the door.

"Yes, Raye," Amy said. "We are." She turned around to look at Darien. "Now, Darien, here's what we can tell you."

"

**Meadow Park, May 5th, 5:07 PM**

Raye and Lita dug into the patch of dirt with two shovels, picking up scoops of dirt and depositing them to the side, creating a small hole. A couple feet away, Amy was calibrating some dials on the side of a white object about the size and shape of a barbeque propane tank, looking at her scout computer on the ground every few seconds. Darien, Luna and Artemis was watching her closely, Mina stood uneasily behind Darien, and Serena was back even further.

"Alright, I think we're ready." Amy looked over at Raye and Lita. "You should be hitting it any second."

About twelve inches down, a circular lid appeared underneath the dirt. Raye bent down and grabbed it, pulling it out of the dirt, revealing the small glass jar with shimmering liquid inside. It was still shaking and jostling around, but didn't seem to be doing anything else.

Amy turned to face her fellow scouts and Darien. "As I said a couple weeks ago, my sailor visor is constructed almost entirely out of highly advanced technology, but not advanced beyond my understanding." She pointed at the circular container on the ground. "With what I learned from dismantling and examining my visor, I have constructed this."

Everyone came in closer to look at the white construct.

"My visor is capable of hundreds of different functions, made possible by it's mystical power source, thus meaning I can not recreate it. What I have done, however, is used the technology of the modern day to create a machine that can accomplish a single function. Such a machine needs far less computing power and energy." She picked up her scout computer and tapped a button on the pad. A split-second later, a little beacon light on top of her machine blinked green.

"If my estimations are correct, then this machine is capable of one thing." She beckoned Raye forward. She approached, holding out the jar of negaverse sludge. Amy took it and set it on top of the machine. "Is there a negaverse agent in range, or not?"

She hit the button again. This time, the beacon blinked a red color before fading.

"Wow!" Raye exclaimed. "Amy, you did it!"

Amy picked the jar up and handed it to Raye. "One step back, please." Raye complied. Amy hit the button again, and the beacon showed red. "Again." Raye moved back, and again the signal indicated the negaverse presence. "One more." Raye did so, and this time the signal blinked green.

"Due to it's limited computing power, this machine only has an effective range of about five feet," Amy explained. She then rapidly tapped the button several times, making the light repeatedly blink green until it stopped working. "And since it's only being powered by a dozen D-cell batteries, it's only good for about ten pulses."

"It's a very nice invention, Amy," Luna said, coming up to look at it. "But I must confess, I don't see the practicality."

"This is just a proof of concept," Amy said. "Now that I know I can do it on this small scale, I can do it on a meaningful one." She closed the computer up and put it in her back pocket. "A larger device will be capable of a few additional functions and a meaningful range of detection. Although very expensive to make, it's possible."

"Unless your father is the CEO of Duracell, I'm afraid there's a much bigger issue," Artemis said. "Even if you strip out all but a couple of the functions, the type of range you're going to need will demand a lot of power."

"We need to think of something," Amy said. "Solar, water, wind, something. We still have six hundred thousand dollars in our operations account, and around three hundred thousand in assorted growth accounts. I'm willing to spend practically all of it on leveraging this breakthrough into a meaningful city-wide detection system."

Darien closed his eyes. "I'm not seeing it. Anything we could get that could reasonably power it would be so big it'd be impractical."

Lita cleared her throat. "Maybe I could power it."

"Possibly," Amy agreed. "But not very practical, I'm afraid." She went over to Raye and took the jar back, going over to the hole in the ground. "Everyone, we need to figure this out. So keep thinking about it, and there's no such thing as a stupid suggestion."

"

**Headquarters, May 7th, 10:07 AM**

"She's back."

Amy threw a newspaper down on the coffee table, everyone gathering around it and kneeling down to observe it.

ANNUAL ART EXHIBIT JUST DAYS AWAY, SET UP IN THE MANUEL HALL BEGINS

"Oh yeah, I remember this last year," Raye mused. "Wait, do you want to go?"

"We _need_ to go." Amy stood up straight. "I decided to scope the Manuel Hall out this morning. My visor picked up an extremely strong negaverse signal coming from it, and several other fairly strong ones. It looks like the negaverse is back on energy farming." She removed her tablet from her shoulder bag, presenting the screen out towards the others. "So I did some research and found this."

Her screen showed a low-resolution picture of several large trucks full of paintings and sculptures being offloaded. Next to the nearest truck was a person, who Amy pointed at. It was a she, difficult to make out thanks to the low image quality. All they could make out was her blonde hair, pulled back into a ponytail.

"Wait..." Lita muttered, staring the figure.

"Is that Zoicite?" Serena asked, leaning forward.

"I think it's a fair assumption," Amy said.

"Ugh," Mina grunted. "We haven't seen her in months, I thought we were rid of her."

"Queen Beryl must be feeling more forgiving these days," Artemis muttered. "Either that or she's running out of generals to scapegoat."

"The negaverse has made their move," Amy continued. "And we have the rare benefit of knowing days in advance. The exhibit opens in a week, and I'd bet just about anything that these pieces of art are designed to zap energy from anyone who looks at them. And if they're selling any souvenirs, I'm sure they're more than just decorative."

Darien nodded. "Alright. We hit them before they open, we take them out, their mission ends before it even begins. Primary target is Zoicite, she won't be expecting us so it's a chance to take her out for good." He cracked his knuckles." And I've got no plans tonight."

"Why, are all the Chippendale clubs closed?" Serena snarked.

"Hey, you know what?!" Darien said warningly.

"_What_?!" Serena spat back.

"Wait, that's _it_!" Artemis suddenly yelped, eyes going wide.

"See?" Serena said haughtily. "Artemis agrees with me."

"No, Serena, shut up, I...that's it!" Artemis stared at the tablet screen.

"What's it?" Amy asked.

"The negaverse energy pendants!" Artemis said. "Those pendants, that's it! They're modified moon gems, that's how we could power the detector!"

Immediately, Amy set the tablet down on the table and leaned up close to Artemis. "Keep talking!"

"It's been so long since I've seen one I had forgotten," Artemis said quickly. "But back when I started, I did some research on the negaverse's methods of energy collection. Those pendants have moon gems inside them, all we have to do is steal them!"

"Artemis, are you sure?!" Luna gasped, jumping up onto the coffee table next to her counterpart.

"Yes. There's a moon gem inside those pendants. Not a tiny one either, pretty good size. It's been repurposed to gather energy, but it'll be easy to convert back. Amy, if you can get your hands on one of those pendants, you can power your negaverse detector."

"Alright, people, this is priority one!" Amy ran over to the large whiteboard near the desk on the wall close to the door. "New primary target, retrieve a negaverse energy pendant! We have seven days to hatch a plan, and we can not fail!" She grabbed a black marker from a small lip underneath the board, the other girls crowding around her. "This is going to require more creativity than usual!"

"Uh, if I may interject?" Darien called out, still standing by the coffee table. "Why are we taking mission advice from Garfield?"

"Hey, that wasn't funny the first time, it wasn't funny the eighteenth time, and it's not funny now, ya douchebag!" Artemis snapped.

"Seriously, the ability to speak does not necessarily indicate intelligence," Darien added, looking over at the five girls.

"Yeah, you're living proof, dipstick!" Serena called out.

"Darien, we've been over this, Luna and Artemis are our best sources of information about the negaverse," Amy said.

Darien glared at Artemis suspiciously. "Or maybe just a couple of strays who swam in some radioactive slop one night."

"For someone who just got here, you've sure got a mouth," Luna grumbled.

"Shut it, Salem Saberhagen!" Darien retorted.

Luna raised her eyebrow at Darien, the room silent for a couple seconds.

"The cat from Sabrina The Teenage Witch?" Darien explained.

"Oh," Luna said flatly. "Wait, how do _you_ know that?"

"Because...shut up!" Darien spun around and walked over to the girls around the whiteboard. "Alright, what are we doing?"

"We have less than one hundred and fifty two hours before that exhibit opens," Amy said. "We have that long to come up with a plan."

"

**Headquarters, May 7th, 11:30 PM**

"My God, Amy, you can actually do this?" Mina looked over Amy's shoulder as she typed away at the computer.

"I can do just about anything as long as you give me a CAT5 cable," Amy replied, bringing up a three dimensional blueprint on one of the screens. "Not that I would ever do it unless it was extremely important. Okay, Manuel Hall."

"Several dozen potential means of ingress," Darien said quietly, looking at the screen as it rotated around. "Not a terribly easy place to cover."

"Big place," Amy said. "Lots of winding halls and paths, lots of rooms."

"They don't have a virtual tour on their website," Lita said, swiping her finger over Amy's tablet screen. "But I was able to find a gallery of pictures from last year's exhibit."

"Okay, let's think options here," Darien said. He went over to the whiteboard and started scribbling numbers with a blue marker. "This place is about eight thousand square feet total, we've got six operatives...these winding paths obviously make things more difficult, but I think we could systematically search the whole building in about fifteen minutes."

"Not good enough," Amy countered. "Zoicite may be overconfident, but she's not stupid." Amy got up and went over to the white board, nibbling on the back end of her marker. "She's been fighting with us for months, directly and indirectly, and she knows we're a threat. If we show ourselves too early, we might lose our chance at getting the pendant. It will only take Zoicite a second to warp back to the negaverse, where we can't touch her."

Darien tapped the tip of his marker against the whiteboard a couple times. "We can come in from below. Enter through the sewers, then comb through the building without being seen."

"This place is going to be crawling with security," Amy said. "These pieces are extremely valuable. There's no way we can search the building without being seen."

"We can assume Zoicite will keep the pendant with her at all times," Raye said slowly. "We can use your visor to track her location, then attack when she moves to an advantageous position."

"We have no guarantee of that," Amy said. "I picked up half-a-dozen other very strong negaverse signals from the hall, which means she's brought along some very respectable assistants. It's possible one of them could be holding it, particularly if Zoicite decides to make herself visible at the exhibition."

"Okay..." Darien beckoned over at Lita, who handed him the tablet. He looked at the screen, quickly tapping through a series of images. "Alright, this looks like the central hub." He started scribbling the rough diagram of a large room on the whiteboard. "Pretty big, got some tables of food around the outside edges...and there's this big balcony up here." He quickly made a rough ledge up above the room.

"Man, Darien, does _everything_ you draw look like a penis?" Serena snarked. Darien's shoulders sagged, obvious annoyance creeping into his expression.

"Serena, please, not now!" Amy rasped, looking back at her.

"Yeah, the adults are talking!" Darien added.

"Coulda fooled me," Serena grunted.

"What happened to her acting in the best interest of the scouts?" Darien looked over at Amy, pointing his marker at Serena.

"Yes, Serena, what happened to that?" Amy agreed.

"Hey, don't blame me. Blame Darien's creepy infatuation with phallus-shaped whiteboard drawings."

"Gods, this is even more unbearable than I imagined!" Darien moaned, leaning his back up against a blank section of the board and closing his eyes. "What did I _do_ in a past life to deserve having to spend time around this stupid girl?!"

"You are _such_ a freaking baby!" Serena put her hands on her hips. "I'd tell you to go cry to your mother, but she already _killed_ herself out of shame _from giving birth to you!_"

The room fell deathly silent. Darien's eyes flew opened, glaring right at Serena. Serena's four friends stared at her, eyes wide and mouths hanging open. Slowly, the marker in Darien's hand drooped from his fingers, then fell to the ground with a small little clink of noise.

"Jesus CHRIST, Serena!" Raye yelped. "You can't—"

"Yes, I CAN!" Serena snarled. "And I DID!"

"S-Serena, take that back, right now," Amy said weakly, pointing at Darien.

"NO!" Serena cried.

"Serena, I'm n-not asking you, I'm telling you, take that—"

"No, she doesn't have to!" Darien snarled, bending down to pick up his marker. "Because I don't care about _anything _she says!" He turned back around and violently finishing his diagram on the board.

"Serena—" Amy started.

"Oh, don't let me interrupt your precious _planning_ time with _Darien_!" Serena interrupted. "You two go ahead, I would never dream of getting between you and your new favorite person!"

Amy sighed. "S-Serena, would you like to go home?"

"Sounds good to me!" Serena pushed past Amy, heading for the door. "My homework's by the couch!"

"Y-yes, Serena, I know." Amy buried her face in her hands. A second later, Serena slammed the door shut behind her. Raye came up next to Amy and patted her back comfortingly.

"Darien, I am really sorry about her," Amy said, dropping her hands back to her sides.

"Don't be," Darien said through gritted teeth. "Like I said, I don't care what she says or thinks about anything!"

"This isn't working," Amy said under her breath.

"

**Headquarters, May 8th, 2:08 PM**

"Alright, so, we have a finalized plan," Amy started. The other four scouts, Darien, and the two cats were gathered in front of her, Amy pointing at a whiteboard full of drawings with a marker. "But, before we begin...Serena, do you have...anything you'd like to say?"

Serena didn't react, keeping her arms tightly knotted in front of her chest, frowning.

"Perhaps to...Darien?" Amy asked hopefully.

"Hmph!" Serena purposefully turned away from Darien's direction, closing her eyes in defiance.

Amy sighed deeply.

"Don't worry, I don't care," Darien growled.

"Right, well...it's been decided that any sort of direct assault, stealth or not, is completely out of the question due to the many variables that we won't be able to account for. Thus, we will hide in plain sight. We will enter the exhibition as guests, and will learn what we need to learn while under cover." Amy pointed to a small listing of the six names on the board. "I will be here, coordinating and supporting from the computer. You five will be on location. We need two people on the floor of the exhibition, two people on the pendant, and one person in the VIP section." She pointed at the rough room diagram. "That's the balcony. Some of the art pieces are for sale, and they've set aside this area for exceedingly wealthy patrons who might consider purchasing one of them." She pointed at Darien. "Darien will be one of the two who moves on the pendant, and he has chosen Lita as his assistant, posing as his girlfriend."

Darien quickly spoke up. "But just to be abundantly clear, it was akin to choosing between syphilis, gonorrhea, and herpes."

"Which one was I?" Mina asked.

Amy cleared her throat loudly. "Raye and Mina will be out on the floor, scoping the place out and handling assorted tasks to assist Darien and Lita in reaching the pendant. Serena, you'll be in the VIP section. The primary goal of these three will be to locate Zoicite, or at least one of her assistants, and tag them without them knowing. Once we think we have a lock on a probable pendant location, Darien and Lita will move in. At that point, Raye, Mina and Serena will run distraction. Our one advantage is that Zoicite won't fear an attack from a human, so even if sees us causing havoc it won't scare her off."

"But the moment Zoicite believes the Sailor Scouts are involved in any sort of assault, she will probably move to protect the pendant. We should expect that the negaverse will protect their moon gems like the invaluable assets that they are." Luna strolled up to underneath Amy's feet. "Which is why, until Darien and Lita have eyes on the pendant and are capable of securing it immediately, nobody is to reveal their sailor form."

"I've already ordered the components we need, and I'll have everything we need set up before friday night. We will do a walkthrough of the plan every day, starting today, until the day of the opening." Amy set the marker down. "We have to be very precise. If Zoicite figures out that we're targeting the pendant, it may be very difficult to target another in the future." She clapped her hands together. "So, let's go ahead with a bare walkthrough."

"

**Serena's Bedroom, May 12th, 9:12 PM**

"I wonder when Amy and Darien are going to announce that they've started dating?!" Serena mumbled to herself, laying down on top of her blankets.

"Serena, please stop," Luna begged, sitting on the nightstand. "I understand what you're feeling, but—"

"You understand what I'm feeling?!" Serena repeated, turning her head to glare at Luna. "Really?!"

"...I understand that this is a very unpleasant experience for you, and I can empathize with that, Serena." Luna thought about stopping there, but plowed on. "But it _is_ for the greater good, and you have to understand that! Darien is, by any reasonable standard, an extremely valuable ally for the scouts. I don't much care for his smart mouth either, but it's worth tolerating! Amy is just doing what's best for the scouts."

"Oh yeah, Amy _always_ does the right thing!" Serena snapped. "All hail the great and wise Amy!"

"I'm sure the other girls don't like Darien very much either, Serena, including Amy—"

"Could have fooled me!" Serena interrupted. "Sitting together in the corner, scheming up a storm, working late into the night by themselves, I'm just waiting for them to start holding hands!" She rolled over, away from Luna. "It wasn't enough for the little dictator to take control of scout leadership, it wasn't enough for her to take _my_ money, now she's doing this!"

"Serena, you need to calm down!" Luna demanded, unable to keep a touch of agitation out of her voice. "Amy is bending over backwards to make it up to you, so you have to honor your agreement with her! You need to stop stirring the pot around Darien and making this harder than it already is! Maybe you don't want to hear it, but it's true, Amy has always worked in the best interests of the mission. And maybe Darien doesn't have the best attitude, but ever since he got here he's been focused on the mission as well. Now, tomorrow is extremely important and could determine success or failure in our war against the negaverse, so I need you to focus and do your job!"

"Yeah, yeah," Serena closed her eyes.

"Serena, promise me!" Luna jumped off the nightstand and onto the bed, going up next to Serena's head. "You're free to have whatever emotions you want to have, but the job comes first!"

"Yeah, I know," Serena said. "I will."

Luna looked away. "And you could really stand to put less stress on Amy. She has an absolute mountain of work in front of her, she doing the best she can."

Serena grumbled something under her breath. "This time tomorrow, we will have the pendant in our possession. You have my word."

"Thank you." Luna laid down next to her. "I think we'll all feel much better if we can score such a giant victory over the Dark Kingdom."

"

AN: This chapter feels a tad disjointed to me, I don't love it...but I believe it's necessary to moving forward, so I'm rolling with it. And maybe I'm imagining things, sometimes it's hard to say. I never want to fill a chapter with too much exposition, so I did what I could to give it some heart. But in terms of us getting to where we need to be, it functions.

Might update again before the end of the upcoming weekend.


	12. Mission Unlikely

Chapter 12: Mission Unlikely

"

**Headquarters, May 13th, 4:30 PM**

Slowly, Amy affixed the button camera onto the strap of Lita's pink dress, the lens hidden behind an opaque gem. After getting the pin through and securing it, Amy turned to the computer screen. It showed Amy.

"Alright, video works." Amy picked up a headset and pressed one of the earpieces to her phone.

"Test," Lita said.

"Audio works." Amy set the headset down. She picked up a pink handbag from the desk and handed it to Lita. "If it malfunctions there's a backup in there." Her eyes scanned all the computer screens, seeing similar vantage points from the cameras mounted onto all of the scouts except her. "I think we're set." She pointed at Serena. "One more time, you are?"

"Serenity Augusta, heiress, looking to purchase some decor for my beach property," Serena replied. She was wearing a white, strapless number with gold trimming along the top.

"Remember, if anyone questions your identify, remain cool and confident. I ghosted an ID file onto their database, so if they look you up you'll be fine. It'll take them hours to actually discover the trick, by which time we should be out of there." Amy pointed at Raye. "You?"

"Michelle Price, attending the exhibit for research for a school paper," she said. Raye had chosen a more conservative red piece, collar up to her neck.

Amy looked over at Mina, who was wearing a sleeveless yellow dress with much of the back removed.

"Tiffany Parker, tourist from Japan," Mina answered the unspoken question.

The door swung open and the tarp was pushed to the side by Darien, who was wearing a traditional black suit and tie, white undershirt to serve as contrast.

"Oh, lovely, you stopped by Goodwill on the way over," Serena barked. "What'd that run you, a buck fifty?"

Darien scowled. "Hey, smartass, _this _is Armani." He grabbed the left lapel of the jacket, rubbing it between his index finger and thumb.

"Pretty sure it's pronounced 'knockoff'," Serena snarked back.

"Serena, you knock it off," Amy said tiredly. "Uh, Lita, you?"

"Cindy Cameron, just a date night," Lita answered.

"And Darien?" Amy looked over at him.

"Bruce West, just a...date night," he said.

"Obviously, your identities aren't as important as Serena's, as you won't be in the VIP section. But if something happens, sticking to the story will be important." Amy walked over to Darien, pulling out a small golden pin. Darien bent down slightly and allowed her to affix it to the collar of his undershirt. She looked over at another computer screen, seeing the video from the pin come in. "Okay, video works." She ran over to the desk and picked up the earpiece again.

"Audio test," Darien said evenly.

"Audio works." Amy nodded, then ran back over to Darien, handing him an identical pin. "Backup." Darien took it and inserted it in his inner chest pocket.

"Alright, I've got the rental car waiting to pick up," Darien turned around, beckoning towards Lita. "It'll be a bit of a drive, so we should get going. Everyone, try not to screw it up."

Lita came up next to Darien, heels clicking on the concrete floor. "Game faces, everyone!" she said, turning to look at the other girls. "We can do this."

"

**Miller Street, May 13th, 5:19 PM**

"Before you get any ideas, just let me re-iterate that me choosing you means nothing, so don't let it get to your head." Darien shifted the Cadillac XTS into gear and slowly puttered out of the parking space, waiting to rejoin traffic. "There's no reason to brag about being the tallest midget."

Lita gave a little laugh from the passenger seat. "Whatever you say."

"I'm serious. Don't go bragging to your friends about how you roped in the Shieldsmeister or something. This is one hundred percent business."

Lita nodded, then looked over at Darien. "You know, I don't have a problem with you."

"Hm?" Darien pulled out into the road.

"I don't," Lita repeated. "I mean, you're not my favorite guy in the world or anything like that, but I think you're alright. I mean, you and Serena, whatever, but...I don't see any reason why we can't at least get along while we're working together."

"Uh-huh. Well, anyone who willingly spends time around someone like _her_ can't have an IQ much higher than room temperature," Darien replied. "Some offense meant."

"Some taken," Lita said, still smiling playfully. "You sure there's not some self-loathing in that comment?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Darien accelerated down the road.

"You sure seem to end up spending a lot of time around her." Lita glanced out the side window. "If it's not one thing, it's another. How much of that can be coincidence?"

"All of it," Darien grunted. He sighed, then looked over at Lita as they came to a red light. "Okay. Maybe you're not a total tool. But frankly, these last couple weeks, I've spent most of my free time with you five, and hanging around with junior high girls isn't my idea of a good time."

Lita shrugged. "Not my fault."

"It's not not your fault," Darien countered. "Either way, you're just not the kind of person that I like to hang around with. And I can think of a million different things I'd rather be doing than scheming how to save the world with a bunch of fourteen-year-olds. But I don't have a choice, so you'll have to understand my frustration."

"Well, I'm sorry that we're taking time out of your obviously very busy social life," Lita said sarcastically.

"Yeah, that's right," Darien said. "I mean, right now I could be hanging out with Andrew, or...uh, one of my...other friends, of which I have many."

"Uh-huh," Lita drawled, still smirking. "Are all of your other friends named Coors and Bud and Miller?"

"I could be spending time with my girlfriend!" Darien said.

"A girlfriend?" Lita repeated.

"Yup." Darien switched into the left lane.

"That you have?" Lita said.

"Yeah." Darien tapped his hands against the steering wheel.

"This girlfriend, is she the...invisible type? Am I sitting on her right now? Because I wouldn't want to do that." Lita kept her gaze on the side of Darien's face, still smiling playfully.

"Ha ha," Darien deadpanned. "For your information, she's in...Europe. Working as a model."

"Huh. Now that's quite something." Lita pursed her lips. "Given that, I wonder how exactly you plan to spend time with her."

Darien stayed silent for a few seconds, allowing Lita to give a few small laughs.

"Come on, Darien. Nothing wrong with being single." She playfully patted him on the shoulder.

"Okay. Maybe I don't have a girlfriend." Darien tapped the blinker rod downward. "Maybe I don't want to limit myself to one dish when I can try the whole buffet."

"Maybe." Lita nodded. "How's that buffet working out for you?"

"Fantastic." Darien glanced over at her. "I'd probably be up to my eyeballs in co-eds right now if it wasn't for this stupid negaverse business."

"I'm sure." Lita leaned back in her chair, putting her head against the headrest.

"No, I'm serious," Darien said, voice slightly more high-pitched than typical. "I'm—"

"—so full of shit, your eyes are brown." Lita closed her eyes, still smirking. "I've seen the inside of your nightstand, Darien. Not a condom to be found."

"That doesn't mean anything," Darien said.

"I feel pretty safe saying that it means there's not anything going on in there after the lights go out." Lita opened her eyes again, looking at Darien. "Come on, now. You're driving a Cadillac to an art exhibit, you don't need to be compensating for anything."

"Alright." Darien shrugged. "You got me. I don't spend much time around the ladies. But only because I choose not to."

"Hey, I agree. Hundred percent." Lita nodded. "You put yourself out there, you could get just about anything you want."

"That's right," Darien chuckled.

"So that leaves us with the question of why," Lita turned back to look at Darien. "You've got an expensive rod, nice hook, quality bait. Why ain't you casting?"

Darien was silent for several seconds, car stuck in a long line of waiting vehicles.

"Not really appealing to me," he settled on. "I don't know if you've noticed or not, I don't exactly get along very well with people in general."

"Yeah, I get...glimpses into that." Lita adjusted the hem of her dress.

"I don't much care for people, and they don't much care for me." Darien continued to slowly stop-and-start through rush hour traffic.

"Yeah, it's almost like those two things are somehow...related," Lita commented dryly.

"And I'm okay with that." Darien looked over at Lita. "So if you're looking for a reason why I compare you and your friends to sexually transmitted diseases, just go with...I'm an asshole."

"Really?" Lita looked in the wing mirror. "So you're an asshole, and that's that?"

"Yup." Darien glanced over to his left. "That's what society calls it at any rate. And I'm okay with that. So, don't take it personally. It's not you. It's me."

"Hm." Lita chewed the inside of her cheek. "Remember...a month plus ago, that day we showed you the money for the first time?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, and remember how you kept telling us that we were gonna...get in trouble, and how you wanted to help us, and how it was for our own good, all that?" Lita continued. "Doesn't sound like asshole-like behavior to me."

Darien bristled slightly. "I said I'm an asshole. I'm not evil. When I see a group of junior high girls getting mixed up in organized crime, I'm gonna say something. Doesn't make me a good guy."

"Alright, Darien. You're an asshole," Lita said.

"Damn right." Darien switched over to the rightmost lane.

"There something that makes Andrew special?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, there is," Darien answered.

"Do tell."

Darien frowned slightly. "None of your business."

Lita shrugged. "Okay. But if you leave it at that, I'm just going to assume you're gay for him. So unless you're okay with that—"

"If you must know...he saved my life when I was eight years old," Darien relented. "It was winter, I fell in a river, was getting pulled down by a current, and...he managed to pull me out."

"Really?" Lita pursed her lips and nodded. "That's quite something."

"That's all you're getting from me," Darien said.

"So he saved your life, and you repay him by...not being an asshole to him?" Lita raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty much, yeah," Darien punched the accelerator as the road cleared up a bit.

"Well. I never really thought of friendship as an ATM. But whatever works." Lita propped her elbow on the armrest.

"And y'know...he gets me. He doesn't take it personally when I don't want to double date with him and Rita, or whatever. He lets me be, and I interact with him on my own terms. So it works for me."

"Well, that sounds very meaningful," Lita said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Is he your friend, or your business partner?"

"Well, I'm happy with it." He exhaled, then looked over at Lita. "Look. Here's the nicest thing I got for you. I got nothing good to say about Serena, but to be totally honest...you, Raye, Mina, Amy...you're all alright. I'll even say you do a decent job protecting the planet for fourteen-year-old girls, all things considered. I've got no real quarrel with any of you."

"Thanks. I think."

"But, all things being equal, I'd rather not know you," Darien said.

"Because you're an asshole?"

"Now you're getting it," Darien said. "Again. Don't take it personally."

Lita gave more small chuckles. "Alright. If you say so."

"

**Headquarters, May 13th, 6:02 PM**

"Alright everyone, we are live." Amy looked around at all the screens. Serena was being guided by a pair of large men through a back entrance, and the other four were waiting in line outside the main entrance. The main entrance doors opened and people slowly filtered in.

Amy reached over and grabbed a can of soda, taking a sip from it. Raye and Mina were first through the doors, both quickly separating down different hallways. A moment later, Darien and Lita entered, headed towards the main room of the exhibit with a majority of the crowd. Meanwhile, Serena was taken up a long flight of velvet stairs and up into a large area containing some art pieces and only a handful of people.

"Everyone, keep your eyes peeled for Zoicite or any other negaverse agent." Amy chewed on the tip of her thumb. "But pretend to be looking at the art."

"

**Manuel Hall VIP Room, May 13th, 6:11 PM**

"I must confess, as someone who tries to...mingle with the more savory individuals around town, I'm not sure I've made your acquaintance before." the middle aged woman in a purple dress said, standing next to Serena. "Where are you located again?"

"I spend most of my time at a place by the beach," Serena answered evenly. "I'm something of a recluse, I suppose you might say. But with all of the fine pieces on sale here tonight, I just had to take a look."

"You live with your parents?" she asked.

"In a manner of speaking, but they're both hardly ever home," Serena replied. "But I'm hopeful that I can give mommy dearest a pleasant surprise next time she returns. Maybe something new for the den."

"Good evening, everyone!"

Everyone in the room turned towards the balcony, where a tall, thin blonde in a red dress was speaking loudly at the small crowd of VIPs.

"Welcome to the seventh annual Manuel Hall art exhibit! I hope you all find something you like here tonight. Obviously, not everything is for sale, but feel free to ask any of our wonderful attendants about a particular piece, and we can at least discuss it. If you need anything at all tonight, food, drink, anything, just ask. We just hope that something you find here tonight helps...boost your energy level."

Serena smirked to herself, turning her head away from the speaker. "Are you sure that the negaverse isn't stupid?"

"They're not much for subtlety," Amy admitted through the earpiece. "Now's our chance."

Casually, Serena pulled a small spray bottle from her handbag. She gave a small spritz of it on her right shoulder and started to slowly saunter towards the balcony, as Zoicite began to walk right towards her. She moved the bottle over to spray her left shoulder, the two just feet apart. They walked right past each other, Serena subtly aiming the bottle at her back. She hit a button on the bottle with her thumb, then sprayed again, this time silently firing out a tiny little tracer from the spout, which adhered itself to Zoicite's back.

Serena kept walking out to the balcony, looking down onto the main room of the exhibition.

"Zoicite has been tagged," Amy said softly. "Everyone proceed to secondary objective, tag other negaverse agents. Probably disguised as humans."

"

**Manuel Hall Drew Room, May 13th, 6:20 PM**

"Mercury, you seeing this?"

Raye had been passively following an abnormally tall, suited man for the last few minutes as he went from room to room and hall to hall, observing the guests observe the art. He never spoke to anyone, and was constantly tugging at his suit. He slowly moved around the room, eyes not on the art, but on the patrons.

"As good a bet as any," Amy said.

Raye waited for the seven-foot being to move to leave the room, then took up stride behind him. She pulled her spray bottle from her handbag, and with a quick glance about, launched a tiny tracker at the hindquarters of the curious man.

"

**Manuel Hall Main Room, May 13th**, **6:39 PM**

"Looks about right."

Lita and Darien looked around the room, the largest in the building, with various pieces all around the outer edge and several long tables of food and drink littered about. About four or five dozen people were moving about, all of them noticably sluggish and giving a zoned-out apperance. Darien looked around, his left elbow extended out, Lita hooking her right arm through it.

"Looks like a Pink Floyd concert in here," Darien muttered, barely moving his lips as he spoke. "Mercury, status?"

"Okay. Zoicite has been stationary in one room for the past fourteen minutes, and the agent Mars tagged has been in the same room for the last six. At this point I think it's a fair assumption. But there is a problem."

"Naturally," Darien said.

"The room is accessible only via the back hallways, which are employee only." Amy cleared her throat. "Of course, we prepared for this possibility."

Darien and Lita looked around the room, sizing up the half dozen security guards stationed about the room.

"Remember, the security guards are humans and are not involved with the negaverse, so avoid hurting them."

"Ten o'clock," Darien muttered. Lita turned her head slightly to the left and saw one guard patrolling towards them. The pair slowly walked towards him, pretending to look at a glass sculpture to their left.

Lita pretended to get her heel caught in the carpet and slipped to the ground violently, going headfirst into the left shin of the guard, causing him to tumble right on top of her. She gave a little scream as he crashed down on her back. Immediately, Darien reached down and grabbed the security guard by the right arm and lifted him up, other hand subtly taking a small scanner from his hip pocket and aiming it at the keycard badge on the guard's hip.

"I am so sorry!" Lita shrieked. "It's these stupid heels, I hate them!" She gave an awkward giggle as she got up.

"You alright there, old sport?" Darien asked, large hand clenched onto the guard's forearm. "Sorry about that."

"Yeah, don't worry about it," the guard muttered, nodding. "I'm fine."

"Good to hear!" Darien smacked him on the shoulder lightly a couple times. "Good man!" He slipped the scanner back into his hip pocket. The guard walked away.

"Nice job," Amy said quietly. "It'll take about thirty seconds. The door is in the eastern corner."

Darien and Lita looked over, seeing a brown door behind one of the tables of food. Quickly, Darien scanned the area, frowning.

"If we try to go that door, no less than four guards will see us, as well as one security camera," he reported. "And functioning badge or not, we don't look like employees."

"Understood. Venus, main room."

Ninety seconds later, Mina casually strolled in through the north entrance.

"Alright. See the punch bowl on the second table from the corner? Maybe a foot to the left of that should be ideal."

Mina walked over to the bowl in question, Lita and Darien slowly making their way over towards the corner.

"Stay out of the camera until Mina's done," Amy instructed. Mina went up to the punch bowl and plucked an opaque gem from a bracelet on her right wrist. She set it down on the table, then slowly walked away.

Seconds later, the gem spewed out of a puff of white smoke. Immediately, the patrons started to scream in shock, the smoke spreading to cover a several foot radius, every pair of eyes in the room turning to look at the unexpected sight.

All six guards in the room immediately bolted into the fray, hands moving to their hips. As soon as the smoke moved to obstruct the view of the security camera, Darien and Lita glided to the corner door. Darien looked behind him, seeing that all of the focus in the room was on the distraction. He whipped a square device from his inner chest pocket and put it up against the badge scanner right next to the doorframe. The little indicator light on the scanner blinked, but remained red.

Raising an eyebrow, Darien repeated the motion, but was rewarded with only a blinking red light yet again.

"Mercury?"

"Hold on," Amy replied, tapping a few keys in front of her. Nervously, Darien looked back at the smoke plume, which was still quite thick and quite distracting. "Try it now."

Darien put the device forward, scanning it. Again, a blink, but no green light and no click of the door lock.

"Huh," Lita muttered. "You know, Bruce, the strangest thing happened to me last night." Lita looked behind her at the smoke cloud. "I went out onto my balcony to stargaze, and I was looking for _Mercury_, but it was nowhere to be found."

Darien's nostrils flared. "Yes, well, they do often say that Mercury is the most..._unreliable_ of planets," he said through gritted teeth. "Never there when you expect it. Certainly never around when you need it the most."

Amy sighed. "Okay, just a couple seconds."

"Running a little low on those," Darien grunted, looking at the smoke start to dissipate into the ventilation system.

"Okay, try it now," Amy instructed.

Darien put the device forward against the scanner. This time, to his immense relief, the scanner light blinked and turned green, with a click signifying the unlocking of the door. He reached forward and wrenched the door open, Lita slipping through the opening and Darien following. He silently pulled the door closed, exhaling a large puff of breath.

"How does did you spend on that badge cloner, again?" he asked.

"Six thousand," Amy replied. "Keep going straight down the hall, you're not far away. There will be a vent to your right in about thirty feet, which Lita will be using. There isn't much of a guard presence back here, but be careful all the same."

Quickly, the pair ran down the hall, plain white walls with a dull concrete floor. "I see it," Lita announced, pointing at the white grate against the right wall, just a couple feet before the hallway branched off to the right. Darien kneeled down by it, pulling a pen-shaped device from one of his pockets. Lita pulled an identical one from her handbag. Darien pressed the tip of the device to the top right screw, and Lita pressed hers to the top left. With a quite little whirring noise, both little pens quickly whistled the screws from their holes. They moved to the bottom screws and repeated the process, unattaching the vent in seconds flat.

Lita set the grate down against the wall, then peered down the shaft. She wrinkled her nose.

"Ugh. So much for getting the deposit back on this dress." Nevertheless, she squeezed herself into the passage, Darien pushing her down the metal passage. Soon, her whole body had disappeared down the shaft. Darien stood up.

Just as he did, a security guard came around the bend, peeking out into the hall, hand near his hip. Immediately, he pulled a small black pistol from a holster and aimed it at Darien as he came around the corner. Darien slowly put his hands up by his shoulders.

"H-hey, what are you...how'd you get back here?!" he demanded, advancing on Darien, barrel pointed right at Darien's chest.

"Funny story about that," Darien said.

A dull thud came from the vent as Lita clawed her way down the shaft. For a split second, the guard's eyes went down to look at the opened grate. Darien reached forward and grabbed the man's wrist, wrenching it to the left so the barrel wasn't pointed at him. He squeezed the wrist and bended it awkwardly, forcing him to open his hand and drop it.

Immediately, Darien spun him around and wrapped his right arm around his neck, squeezing his windpipe with a strong forearm.

"Don't kill him!" Amy reminded.

"I know," Darien said quietly. After several seconds, oxygen deprivation forced the man into an unvoluntary blackout. Darien set him down on the floor after he was convinced.

"Don't bother hiding the body, just move," Amy said. "Turn the corner to the right, take the stairs to your left, second door to your left when you get downstairs."

Darien immediately complied, going around the corner and taking the stairs two at a time.

"Four people in the room," Lita buzzed in. "Zoicite and three others. I see the pendant, it's hanging on the wall in the back right corner."

"Darien, you draw attention from the front. Lita, you come in from above, try to get your hands on the pendant as soon as possible. Darien, try to push the four agents away from the pendant."

Darien quickly exited the stairwell, taking long strides down another plain hall. He got to the second door on the left and wasted no time in wrenching the door open.

Zoicite turned around to look at him, an amused smile on her face.

"I'm impressed. But there's nothing down here for you to steal," she said, Darien walking right towards her. "You have no idea how big a mistake you've made." She pulled her fist back at her side.

She rocketed a punch forward right towards the side of Darien's head. Darien glowed a bright white for a second, distracting Zoicite but not throwing off her blow. He moved his hand up to catch Zoicite's fist, doing so just as the white glow dissapated to reveal he had donned a different suit, top hand and masquerade mask.

Zoicite's face fell as Tuxedo Mask squeezed her fist in his large hands.

"Oh, sh—" she managed, right before Tuxedo Mask yanked her fist down and to the right, exposing her left flank to a body shot. He delivered his left fist right into her ribs, landing a devastating blow that threw her right into the stone brick wall with tremendous force.

The other three negaverse agents, who had disguised themselves as suited, extremely large humans, watched in shock, and were only snapped out of it by the abrupt _chunk_ of the ceiling vent grade popping out of it's housing.

Lita slid out of the vent, air around her crackling with sparts of electricity, right on top of the figure closest to the pendant. She socked the unsuspecting agent right in the temple, used the body as a cushion for her landing, then sprung up and launched up towards the pendant. She snatched it and turned back towards the room.

Tuxedo Mask threw his cane at one of the other two standing negaverse enemies, the tip of the rod landing with a sickening crunch right between his eyes. Lita darted for the door, Zoicite peeling herself off of the wall and lunging to block her path. But Tuxedo Mask threw his arm out and clothes-lined her back into the corner, allowing Lita unrestricted passage to speed out.

"NO!" Zoicite screamed, trying to get around Tuxedo Mask. "AFTER HER!" she ordered. The one negaverse agent who hadn't been attacked started pursuit. Tuxedo Mask simply summoned his cane back to his hand, then slammed it violently into the forehead of the man as he tried to run past.

Zoicite tried to use his divided attention to get past him, but Tuxedo Mask simply grabbed her wrist as she tried to run past and threw her back into the room. Frustration evident on her face, she squared up on him, taking a boxing stance. He replied with his own, hanging back by the room exit.

"I'm your huckleberry," he taunted as she danced forward, swinging a feral left.

Tuxedo Mask simply blocked the obviously telegraphed punch with his right arm, then drove his left fist into her gut, driving her back. He kept the attack up, pushing her towards the back of the room with a series of lightning fast jabs. She tried to throw a haymaker, assault fueled by rage at the turn of events. Unfortunately, this made her moves entirely obvious, making it easy for Tuxedo Mask to lean back to avoid the strike, then give her another crack right in the ribs.

"

**Manuel Hall Main Room, May 13th, 6:58 PM**

"Ladies, the pendant is in our possession, it's time for our exit strategy!" Amy called out.

Mina opened her handbag and plucked a tiny white pearl from the bottom of it, dropping it to the floor and moving away from it. A few seconds later, it erupted into a series of high pitched whines and sharp snaps. Everyone in the room jumped, screams filled the air, and all of the guests tried to frantically pile out of the room. Amid the chaos, Lita emerged from the door in the corner, back in human form. She casually joined the crowd of scrambling guests, getting lost in the sea of bodies.

Up on the balcony, Serena had dropped a similar pearl, generating a cacophony of noises that drove the VIP guests out of the room. A few rooms over, Raye was causing a similar distraction. The security guards stationed all over the building were thrown into a frenzy, trying to protect the guests and get the situation under control.

"Move towards the main exit, stay in the crowd!" Amy ordered. "Once they get the situation controls they'll try to block the exits, go! Tuxedo Mask, the valet has your keys in a booth to the south of the parking garage, and the car is on the first level, stall seventeen!"

"

**Manuel Hall Employee Conference Room, May 13th, 7:01 PM**

Zoicite went flying right through the wall, the barrier crumbling, sending her sprawling right into a filing cabinet. Tuxedo Mask came through the hole in the wall, grinning.

"Why, Zoicite, I don't think hand-to-hand combat is your game," he teased as she got up. "Perhaps we should try a spelling contest instead?"

Zoicite grabbed the dented filing cabinet and hurled it at Tuxedo Mask, who neatly sidestepped. She retreated across the room, throwing her hand forward, opening up a black portal. Tuxedo Mask took one step to cut her off, but she was able to chuck a shelf at him to slow him down.

"Off to face Beryl?" he asked as Zoicite jumped into the portal. "You have my deepest sympathies." The moment Zoicite disappeared, Tuxedo Mask turned around and took off for the hall.

"Just follow the exit signs," Amy said. Tuxedo Mask sped down the halls, turning on a dime to follow the green neon signs up on the ceiling.

"

**Nyanza Way, May 13th, 7:06 PM**

"Perfect timing!" Serena used her momentum to throw herself into the backseat of the taxi, coming to a stop in the leftmost seat.

"More of you coming?" the driver asked, looking in his rearview mirror.

"Yes, should be any second," Serena said, out of breath as she looked out at the sidewalk. She didn't have to look for very long, as Raye came out from behind two people and pulled the door open. She scooted over into the middle seat, closing the door behind her.

"One more?" the driver asked.

Serena nodded.

"Huh." The driver turned his attention to the chaos breaking out four blocks down the street. "Did something happen at the art exhibit?" He turned around to look at the two girls. "You two were there, right?"

"N-no, we were at dinner, we're late for a show over on Custer," Raye explained.

The door was pulled open and Mina neatly stepped in.

"Okay, that's all, let's get moving!" Serena tapped the back of the driver seat, and the taxi slowly rumbled off the curb. Mina opened her handbag and displayed the contents over at Serena and Raye. She had the pendant resting at the bottom of the bag, having received it in a quick handoff from Lita while they were moving towards the exit.

"

**Parking Garage, May 13th, 7:07 PM**

Tuxedo Mask threw his shoulder into the door of the booth, knocking it open and startling the single guard stationed in the small box. Besides a tiny desk and chair, the only thing in the chamber of interest were a series of keychains hanging on tiny hooks on the wall.

Before the guard could even think to react, Tuxedo Mask had grabbed one of the keychains, spun around, and disappeared into the garage so fast, he was mostly convinced he had imagined the entire thing.

In seconds, Tuxedo Mask was back at the side of the rental car, reverting back to his alter ego, shedding the mask and hat. Lita was waiting by the passenger door, jumping in the moment Darien unlocked the car.

"Mina's got the pendant," Lita said as she buckled in. Darien didn't bother, igniting the engine and backing out of the parking spot.

"I don't think anyone followed us," Darien said as he peeled out of the garage. "Okay, hold on."

Going much faster than recommended, Darien drove past the booth and out onto the street, quickly clearing the retractable spike strips. He pulled out into the road, joining traffic.

"He's probably going to call it in," Lita said, turning her head to look back at the booth.

"Too bad he doesn't have the right plate number," Darien replied. "Remind me to take the stickers off the plates before we give the car back, by the way."

"Okay, I think we're good," Lita said. "Nice work. That went...pretty close to perfect."

"Yeah, well done," Darien admitted. "Man, I am just bursting with kindness tonight, what is wrong with me?"

"Come on, that was kind of fun, you enjoyed yourself," Lita goaded.

"Okay. Maybe I can only thing of...nine hundred thousand things I'd rather have done tonight," Darien said.

"Any chance you could drive me home?" Lita asked.

"I said don't get any ideas." Darien eyed a police squad car as he drove down the road, relieved to see it not take up pursuit.

"No ideas. Just a quicker route home."

"Well...I guess you didn't screw up tonight, so...I'll take you home from the rental car lot." He nodded. "But don't think I'm getting out of the car when we get there."

"Oh, I'd never dream of it."

"

**Headquarters, May 13th, 7:20 PM**

Mina let the pendant fall from her hand, the thin necklace it was mounted on wrapped around her fingers. It dangled there, shining in the light, not much more than a opaque crystal.

"Beautiful," Amy said quietly. "That went really well. Great job everybody."

"Yeah, we did it." Serena smiled. "Seriously, everybody, hell of a job."

"But we have to beware of them trying to come take it back," Amy said. "So, although I wish we had a better option, the pendant will be kept on our persons at all times. We'll rotate that, Raye is first." Mina handed the object over to Raye. "I would be surprised if the negaverse was able to mount a counterstrike to retrieve it anytime soon, but keep it close."

"Let's call it a night," Mina said.

"

**Lita's Apartment Complex, May 13th, 7:28 PM**

"Well, thank you so much, Darien," Lita said, hand resting on top of the car's hood, bending over to peer into the car through the window.

"Don't mention it," Darien replied. "Seriously, don't."

"You were great, and the scouts appreciate the help. Trust me. Even you-know-who does, even if she won't say it."

"See you tomorrow," Darien said with finality in his voice.

"I don't think you're an asshole," Lita added.

"Yeah, well...wait, what?" Darien turned to look at her.

"I don't think you're an asshole."

Darien swallowed. "That your...professional opinion?"

"You wish you were. You want to be one. But...you're not." She stood up straight. "Good night, Darien."

"

AN: I always wanted to write a James Bond chapter...and now I did...and I did it using the Japanese James Bond...so life is good!

Next chapter sometime this week, no definite timeframe on it.


	13. Ups and Downs

Chapter 13: Ups and Downs

"

**Headquarters, May 23rd, 4:59 PM**

"And you don't think _this_ will look suspicious?"

Raye looked around at the sea of cardboard boxes on the floor around Amy's desk chair, all of them opened to reveal a treasure trove of computer components. Amy had one of the boxes on the desk, slowly removing the parts from it and setting them out on the desk. Perhaps even more bizarre was the presence of a metal box, the size of a phone booth, there as well.

"Oh, it would," Amy agreed, looking at a small plastic fan. "Which is why I ordered everything through a dummy corporation."

"Wait." Raye pointed at Amy. "You set up a dummy corporation?"

"That's right," Amy replied. "An IT startup over in the United Kingdom, which then forwarded all the boxes to this address. As of an hour ago, it may as well have never even existed, and nobody is going to miss six figures worth of computer equipment. Not when the U.K. national debt is past one trillion pounds."

"Amy. Don't take this the wrong way. But sometimes, you, and the things you can do, scare the ever-loving crap out of me." Raye glanced away.

"My capacity for evil is occasionally frightening," Amy agreed.

"Six figures?"

Serena came up, stepping through the maze of cardboard, holding her schoolbag in her right hand.

"All this cost about...one hundred and fifty thousand dollars," Amy explained.

"And you didn't think such a giant expenditure warranted a discussion with the team?" Serena stopped next to the corner of the desk.

Raye scoffed. "Here we go."

"I'm just saying!" Serena insisted. "I can't buy a five dollar comic book, but Amy can build Skynet without so much as a meeting?"

"She's not building it for herself, _Serena, _she's building it for us!" Raye took a step towards her.

"Raye, that's enough," Amy said cautiously. "Serena, I believe I did mention that this was going to be a very expensive project, but that it would be well worth it."

"Well...some numbers wouldn't have hurt," Serena said.

"What are you saying, that you would have told her she couldn't do it?" Raye asked, putting her hands out to her sides.

"Raye, please!" Amy exclaimed. "Look, I am extremely confident that this machine will completely change the tides of our battle, and the only reason we are here right now on the verge of completing it is that we all worked together to accomplish something truly great! What we did ten days ago was a monumental achievement, and it took us all coming together as a team, and that is the only thing that will deliver us through this fight is more of that, so enough with the bickering!"

Raye sighed, then turned back to the components Amy had laid out on the desk. "How long is this going to take to build?"

"I'd say about a week," Amy said. "Unfortunately, I don't think Darien has the specialized knowledge to help much with this, so I'm looking at some late nights."

Serena set her schoolbag down on the desk, clearing her throat loudly as she did so.

"Y-yes, Serena, I haven't forgotten," Amy said wearily as Serena turned away and walked over towards the corner of the room.

"You're kidding me," Raye muttered under her breath.

"It's fine, her homework isn't even hard," Amy said quietly, turning back to the open box in front of her.

"I never knew she had it in her to be this insensitive," Raye continued. "Finals are coming up in a couple weeks, you're trying to build Tron, and she's still on you about that!"

"Every time I think she's starting to settle into a better mood, Darien sends her right back down to the bottom of the hole," Amy groaned. As if on cue, Serena went over to the fridge in the corner, Darien holding the door open and sticking his head into the chilled chamber.

"Hey, jackass!" she shouted, peering over the top of the open door and down at him. "I brought those pudding cups in for me, they're mine!"

Darien stood up straight, holding a six pack of chocolate pudding cups in his left hand. "Do you really think you need the calories?"

Serena gave a feral little growl, then lashed her right hand out to grab the package. She snatched the snacks away, but Darien kept his grip on one of the cups. Serena came away with the other five, but Darien was still holding one. He gave a little smirk, then shut the fridge door and turned away.

"Thanks!"

Serena wasn't so ready to accept defeat, however, and after throwing the package back into the fridge, ran after him and jumped onto his back, reaching for the cup. He bemusedly grabbed her wrist and peeled her off his back, setting her back down on the floor.

"Darien, you give me that right now, or I swear I'll—"

"You'll what?" Darien interrupted. "Go get your daddy to come beat me up? Did your father come in first at the Kingston National Super Middleweight Boxing Competition? Because I came in second!"

"Out of how many? Two?" Serena spat back. "And at least I _have_ a father, Darien!"

Darien raised an eyebrow. "Are...you implying that my mother gave virgin birth?"

Serena squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. "No...I...I—"

Darien quickly ripped the top off the pudding cup, put it up to his mouth, and slurped his tongue around the inside. Mostly empty, he tossed the cup up into the air at Serena, letting her reflexively catch it in her right hand as he walked past her. Serena growled, crushing the empty pudding cup in her hands.

Amy let her head droop down into her cupped hands, sighing deeply. "I really thought things might get better."

"Sadly enough, I think that _was_ better."

"

**Headquarters, June 2nd, 7:09 PM**

"Obviously, things haven't been perfect lately, I think everyone realizes that." Amy looked around. "But, inspite of some problems that we've been having, I really want to talk about all the good we've been able to do. We've got the negaverse scrambling and unable to commit to any one, sensible battle strategy. We always put ourselves in position to minimize the damage done by negaverse attacks, and have been so effective in defending the city that we only see a few attacks a month. And, of course, we now have a significant advantage."

All of the girls, Darien, and Luna and Artemis were gathered in the center of the room, standing next to the large metal box. One of the sides had been removed, exposing a massive jumble of electronic components filling a vast majority of it. Amy was holding the moon gem in her hand, about the size of a golf ball, glowing a brilliant white. She had bags under her eyes and was even paler than usual.

"So, as we continue on in our battle, I implore you all to remember what we are capable of when we work together. These last few months have proven that we can do anything, so whatever the friction we encounter, please try to remember how valuable our partnership is."

With that, she turned to the box, holding the gem out towards it.

"Let this machine be a testament to what we're capable of."

"Time to find out if the testimony of a talking cat is worth a hill of beans," Darien muttered, glancing at Artemis, throwing an empty beer can onto the floor.

"Racist," Artemis retorted.

"You're racist!" Darien pointed down at Artemis.

"People, please!" Amy called out. She took in a deep breath.

She slotted the gem into a little hole between two motherboards. The pulsing white light immediately spread through the entire construct, turning on little indicator lights throughout the box. Fans started to spin. Amy took a step back, swallowing down hard. But nothing blew up.

She cautiously went over to one of the computer screens on the desk and powered it on. The screen showed a overhead map of the city and the surrounding areas, as it always had. However, there was a tiny little blip in Meadow Park. She keyed in a couple commands to zoom in, showing the little dot in better detail.

Mina looked at the map. "Meadow Park, so...that has to be—"

"The jar we buried, it actually picks up that little thing!" Amy broke out into a relieved grin. "It's working!"

She couldn't resist jumping up into the air, Lita coming behind her and grabbing her in midair to embrace her in a hug. Mina gave a massive whoop and threw her fist into the air. Raye ran over, reached up and scribbled her fingers through Amy's hair. Darien clapped a few times, unable to stop himself from nodding. Luna and Artemis started jumping around in excitement. Serena could only offer a couple of golf claps, but for her right now that was more than good enough.

For a few moments, nothing else mattered. Not the uneasy alliance, not Serena's bubbling rage, not Darien's misanthropy, not general insecurity, nothing. They were using a gem they stole from the negaverse to power a machine that guaranteed they would never be surprised by an attack again.

For a few moments, they were on top of the world.

"

**Headquarters, June 10th, 2:01 PM**

"Come on, Serena, crack a smile!" Lita handed her a can of root beer, Serena taking it. "Life is good, give me something!"

Serena rolled her eyes, popping the tab on top of the can open.

"School's out for summer, you passed junior high, the negaverse hasn't done jack for weeks, we have an early-warning detection system, _and_ Darien's out of town for three days to compete in a triathlon." Lita leaned back on the couch. "You should be bouncing up and down with joy!"

Serena scoffed. "Life will be good the moment that that douche is out of it, _permanently_," she growled. "Not a moment sooner."

"You are just _determined_ to not be cool about this, huh?" Raye sat down on the second couch heavily, crossing her right leg over her left.

"Yup," Serena replied haughtily.

"Well, he's not even here, so maybe scale it back a bit and don't take it out on us," Raye suggested.

"Oh, right." Serena scowled. "I'm so sorry I'm subjecting you all to mean words about the great and mighty Darien, I know how much it hurts you all." She rubbed her thumb and index finger together. "Playing my violin for you, right here."

"Serena, what are you talking about?" Lita asked. "Listen, I'm sorry that you have to spend time around someone you hate, but it is what it is. I couldn't care less about Darien, or how you feel about him, hate him all you want. We're just really tired of hearing about it every single day, so—"

"You enjoy that ride home he gave you a few weeks ago?" Serena asked snidely.

Lita flinched. "...how do you—"

"No shame in forgetting to turn your button camera off, Lita." Serena stood up, tossing the root beer can to the side. "Not used to wearing it."

Lita got to her feet, eyebrows slanting downwards in annoyance. "How I choose to find my way home, Serena, isn't any of your business."

"Not an asshole?" Serena said. "Where'd you get that impression, exactly?"

"Neither is how I choose to talk to Darien." Lita closed her eyes and stuck her nose up in the air.

"Don't think I don't see what's going on around here." Serena pointed at Lita. "Throwing your hat in the ring for Darien? Warming up to him?"

"Serena, Lita can talk to Darien however she wants!" Raye grabbed Serena's skirt and tried to tug her down to the couch. "Now sit down—"

Serena pushed Raye's away from her, turning to look down at her. "And you're part of it too, so don't give me the 'don't take it out on us' crap."

"Part of what?" Raye couldn't stop herself from standing up as well.

"I know you think I'm stupid, Raye, but I'm not." Serena put her right hand on her hip.

Raye grimaced and shook her head. "Serena, I don't think you're stupid, I...hey, you know what?! I don't know if you realize this or not, but you've been acting like a total bitch for over a month now, to all of us, and that's with Amy dragging your butt through junior high! We've been beyond nice and understanding about it, so if I were you'd I'd tread lightly!"

Serena barked out a sarcastic laugh. "Beyond nice and understanding? Is that what you call this?"

The door to the warehouse swung open and Mina entered, taking off a pair of sunglasses. "Guys, I honestly didn't think I'd like it, but Amy got me to go see a documentary about the fall of the Roman Empire, and I actually really enjoyed—"

"Yes, Serena, that's exactly what I would call tolerating your behavior lately without slipping hemlock in your coffee, now stop—"

"I see what's happening with you guys and Darien!" Serena shouted. "Every last one of you!"

Mina's shoulders sagged and she sighed, Amy entering the warehouse from behind her, Luna and Artemis quick to follow.

"What's going on?" Amy asked, looking over at the trio of scouts by the couches.

"Serena, we're just making the best of the situation!" Lita insisted. "Now stop being paranoid!"

Immediately, Amy ran over to the three. "Come on girls, let's try to enjoy the start of summer, everyone calm down!"

"We were enjoying summer, until Serena started P-M-Sing all over the place!" Raye shouted, pointing at Serena.

"I don't care who started it, but I'm ending it," Amy said. "Now come on, I promised Darien before he left that we could hold down the fort for a few days without him, what's he going to think if we can't even manage that?"

Serena simmered for a moment, then spun around to look at Amy. "Because what he thinks matters so much, right?"

"Serena, please, don't start—"

In two strides, Serena vaulted the couch and began advancing on Amy. "You value his opinion a lot, Amy?"

Serena stopped just in front of Amy, who gave an exasperated sigh.

"Serena. I am sorry if I offended you. You are well within your rights to hate Darien as much as you want. That is fine." She slowly dropped her palms towards the ground, trying to get her to calm down. "I care what he thinks only in respect to the fact that he is a valuable asset, who we need to appease as long as we are forced to work with him. My relationship with Darien is entirely business, and—"

In a flash of colors, Serena transformed into Sailor Moon and picked Amy up roughly by the collar. Everyone else in the room was so shocked, they froze. Serena sped into the nearest wall and pinned Amy against it, holding her half a foot off the ground, hand now on her neck. Amy struggled and reached up to grab Serena's hand, but was unable to break free.

"Do I look like a four year old?" Serena asked, leaning in towards Amy's face.

"N-no!" Amy choked out, trying to pry Serena's fingers off her throat.

"Then why are you talking to me like one?!" Serena snarled.

Luna snapped out of her shock, jumping up onto Raye's leg. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, DO SOMETHING!" she screeched. Raye closed her mouth, shook her head a couple times, and stepped forward.

"Serena, put her down!" Raye ordered, backing up the threat by transforming into Sailor Mars.

"Serena, please, you're hurting me!" Amy pleaded. Serena paused for a second, then released her neck and let her drop to the ground.

"Listen here, Serena. I don't know what's wrong with you today and I don't know what you think you're doing—"

Amy pointed over at Raye with her right hand, left hand massaging her neck. "Raye, stay out of this!" Slowly, meekly, she pushed herself back up to her feet. "Serena, w-what's wrong?"

"Don't try to play innocent, Amy, you're at the front of everything!" Serena punched the wall to the left of Amy's head, denting the metal and causing her to flinch away.

"N-n-now, Serena, listen," Amy tried to edge away from her along the wall. "I—"

"Doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing, Amy. You just can't _stand_ to not be in control of everything," Serena followed her down the wall, Lita, Raye and Mina following cautiously. "The scouts. The money. Whatever it is, it always has to be _you_ in charge."

Amy looked down at the ground, holding her hands out defensively. "Serena, I'm s-sorry if you feel I've been...overbearing, we can t-talk about that, but I am in charge of managing the money—"

"Because I _let_ you!" Serena snapped, stalking Amy into the corner of the room. Amy glanced around quickly as she got into the corner, then turned back to Serena with a terrified expression. "Just like I let you be lead strategist! You forget your place, Amy. I'm in charge of the scouts! You are only what you are in this group because I have allowed it, you are only _here_ because I have allowed it!"

"Y-yes, Serena, that is absolutely correct, you are the leader, that has always been the case!" Amy leaned away from Serena's continually advancing figure, nodding uneasily. "And that always _will _be the case, and if you're unhappy with something I'm doing, then we can talk—"

Serena slammed her fist into the warehouse wall right above Amy's head, denting it yet again, effectively silencing her.

"I am _so_ tired of listening to you talk, Amy!" Serena hissed. "You already talked your way into causing a behind-the-scenes mutiny behind my back, and even _that_ wasn't enough! Now you've found yourself a new friend, and you're trying to replace me with him!"

"Serena, she did your homework for a month to keep you around!" Raye shouted, marching towards her. "Now if you don't stop it right now, then they're going to have to use dental records to identify your corpse by the time I'm done with you!"

Amy pointed over at Raye. "Raye, stop it! Back off, right now!" she demanded.

"But, Amy—" Raye started.

"Raye! Transform back, now." Amy locked eyes with Raye. "Transform back, I mean it."

Raye stood there for a few seconds, eyes flashing between Amy and Serena. Finally, she reverted back to her civilian clothes, not taking her eyes off Serena.

"Serena, look at me, please," Amy begged. "Never, for a single second, have I even contemplated trying to...get rid of you, or depose you, or anything like that! All I have ever done is tried to help you. To advise you. To help you get what you needed in order to fulfill your destiny! I-if I have ever made you feel otherwise, in any way, then I am truly sorry."

"Amy, I'm not dumb." Serena's voice was quieter, but no less lathered in rage. "You control _everything_ around here. You dictate where we meet, what we do, how we do it, everything! You wanted Darien on board, I didn't, and you got your way. My actions saw us rewarded with a million dollars, and you just wouldn't stop talking until you were in control of every penny. There a _reason_ you never show anyone else the bank statements?"

"S-Serena, I would never...I took control of the money to protect you..." Amy started crying, a couple of streams of salty water going down her cheeks.

"To protect me." Serena glanced over at the wall. "Because I'm not capable of protecting myself. I'm too stupid."

"N-no!" Amy protested, fighting to speak through her tears. "I just—"

"Everyone give all the power to you. Because you're smart. Put everything in your hands, because everyone else is too stupid. Is that right?"

Amy shook her head.

Serena scoffed. "Tell me something, Amy. Have you ever done anything in your entire _life_ that wasn't trying to prove that you're smarter than everyone else? You know, I remember when I found you, Amy. Arrogant little snot, nose stuck in a book, too sophisticated and intelligent to interact with the plebs, not a friend in the world. That's where I pulled you from, and this is how you repay me?"

"Contrary to what you seem to believe about me, Serena, Amy does _not_ dictate everything I do," Raye spoke up, walking towards Serena again. "And if you don't knock it off, right now, I don't care what Amy tells me to do, I'm going to plant your face underneath ten feet of concrete."

"I would _love_ to see you try." Serena turned around and rounded on Raye. Raye defensively transformed into Sailor Mars, hands in front of her and ready for a confrontation. "You're no better, Raye. From day one, you've undermined me and defied me at every turn. Nobody would be happier than you to see me gone. Probably cooking up mutiny schemes constantly behind my back." She looked over at Lita and Mina, who were still too shocked to get involved. "None of you have my back. Not a one. All of you have been more than happy to let Amy take what was mine, _thrilled_ to give her all the power. Probably can't wait to see Darien replace me."

"Serena..." Lita took a couple steps towards her. "I—"

"My God, Lita!" Serena turned towards her. "When you showed up at school, everyone was afraid to go within ten feet of you! They thought they'd end up with a mouthful of broken teeth if they looked at you wrong! If it wasn't for me, you'd still be eating lunch by yourself every day! And this is the thanks I get?" She looked around the room.

"Okay. Serena." Amy slowly approached her. "We'll re-evaluate the way we do things, so—"

"I don't need any of you," Serena said in a low growl. "I'd rather go solo than have a crew that isn't behind me."

"S-Serena," Mina mumbled. "Slow down, let's—"

"If you guys want Darien so badly, you can _have_ him." Serena turned back to Amy. "So, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to leave, and if _anyone_ tries to follow me, I will take it as an act of aggression, and reply appropriately."

"Serena, please—"

"I will return tomorrow, at noon, to take what's rightfully mine. So you _will_ have every last penny of the remaining money here, for me to pick up."

"Over my dead body!" Raye roared, clenching her hands into fists by her sides.

"If the money isn't here when I show up tomorrow, then it _will_ be over your dead body, Raye," Serena menaced. "And then, you're all nothing to me. I don't want to see any of you, and I don't want to know any of you."

"Serena, I'm begging you," Amy squeaked. "You're r-right, okay? You're completely right, we haven't been as supportive as we should, all of us! Just give us a chance to do better, and I swear—"

"Amy, do you understand what I've just said?" Serena leered dangerously.

Amy swallowed down hard. "Y-yes, Serena, I do."

"Good." She spun around and started marching towards the door. "I don't need any of you."

Luna jumped in front of Serena, backhair standing straight up. "Now, Serena, you listen here! Having emotions is fine, being upset is fine, but if you think I'm letting you walk out that door—"

"Oh, shove it," Serena growled, stepping around Luna. "You're finally getting what you've always wanted."

"W-what—"

"_Why can't you be more like Amy? Amy always gets straight As! Amy always acts in the best interests of the scouts! Amy always has her mind on the mission!_ Well guess what, Luna? Now you've got Amy as group leader! We'll see what kind of tune you're singing in a couple months, when I've single-handedly defeated the negaverse without you all holding me back!"

Luna looked down at the floor glumly. "Serena, I'm sorry if I've made you feel inadequate, but this is absolutely not the way to deal with it!"

"Serena." Raye had quieted her voice, controlling her rage into a tranquil fury that permeated every word she said. "If you walk out that door, then this is a promise. I will never, _ever_ forgive you, and you can never, _ever_ look to me for help ever again."

"Serena, please!" Amy ran forward. "We need you!"

Serena glanced back at Amy. "Well, I don't need you. I never did."

With that, Serena bolted through the tarp and slammed her body into the door, knocking it open. She sped off from the warehouse, not caring that it was broad daylight.

"My God," Mina whimpered. "She...she did it."

"Amy, are you okay?" Lita walked over to Amy cautiously. Amy rubbed her nose near the tear ducts. She nodded.

Raye punched her right fist into her left palm. "I'll go get her."

"Raye, NO!" Amy yelled, voice still weak. "Do not pursue her, you heard what she said."

"I don't care if she takes it as an act of aggression!" Raye snapped. "She's mentally unstable and could cause some real damage if we let her go, so I'm going to go beat some sense into her head and ass!"

"No, Raye, I mean it," Amy said, pointing at Raye's back. "We are not going to fight Serena. She's just angry right now. She's been in a highly aggravating situation for over a month now, and today was just the eruption, that's all. She needs to go blow off steam."

"We have all bent over backwards to tolerate her crap, so I don't want to hear that!" Raye turned to look at Amy.

"Raye, going after her won't be necessary." Amy closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "She'll come to her senses. She just needs time, you'll make it worse if you go after her. Tomorrow morning, she'll come back and apologize, and we'll talk about this rationally."

"I don't know, Amy..." Lita said uneasily. "She seemed pretty...set on doing this."

"Lita." Amy's eyes flashed over to her taller friend. "Serena _will_ be back here tomorrow. She will have calmed down. She will apologize. And she will sit down, and we will discuss what happened, and how to prevent a future recurrence."

"I don't think I _want_ to hear her apologize!" Raye walked back over towards the other girls. "There are things you say that you don't come back from, and frankly I think she said about two dozen of those things in the last ten minutes!"

Amy swallowed down hard, wiping her cheeks with her palms. "Raye, I know she said some...very hurtful and unfair things, but that's what people do when they're enraged, and Serena deserves a chance to calm down and say she's sorry."

"You can't be serious, Amy." Raye put her hands on her hips. "After everything she just said to you? Said about you? Amy, you're a nice person, but you don't have to be a doormat! I think we all just got a nice sneak peek at what Serena really thinks about us, so I really wouldn't care if she crawled in here tomorrow morning on her hands and knees!"

"I don't think she's coming back either," Mina groaned. "I mean, that was the motherload of...just, terrible things to say, sometimes you just have to cut the cord."

"She's coming back!" Amy said, regaining some strength in her voice. "We've all known Serena for awhile, and we know she's a good-hearted, well-intentioned person! Yes, she may be impulsive and emotional, but she will do the right thing if we give her time! Circumstances caused the outburst we saw today, nothing more! She will come back, and we need her to come back, so all of you do whatever you need to do to prepare for that!"

"We need her?" Raye repeated. "Really? After everything that just happened, you're still beating that dead horse? The way I see it, us four plus Darien are more than capable of fighting the negaverse. Why, exactly, do we need her so bad?"

Amy sighed deeply, rubbing her forehead. "Because...she's our leader."

"Give me a break," Lita said. "I mean, half an hour ago that statement would have been ridiculous, but now?"

"Serena is our leader," Amy insisted. "Is."

"Well, who decided that?" Raye asked, putting her hands out at her sides. "What makes her leader, because it's sure not the way she acts!"

"What makes her leader?" Amy repeated. "The same thing that makes us Sailor Scouts. Something bigger than all of us. Don't you get it?"

"No, Amy, we don't." Raye rolled her eyes. "Serena was never really our leader, that's just a term we used to make her feel better about herself. Everyone knows you're in charge here, and we're all better off for it."

"That's the attitude that caused this." Amy closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. "From all of us." She covered her face with her hands. "Mostly me."

"Hey, Amy, listen." Lita approached her, patting her on the back. "You can't let what she said get to you. Trust me, you are not the bad guy here—"

Amy spun around, looking at Lita. "You don't get it either, do you? Look. You might look at me and think I'm just some...intellectual, obsessed with science and fact. But believe me, underneath all of those math equations and historical facts, you find faith. You know what faith is? It's belief in something you can't explain."

"Uh...okay, you've...lost me." Lita bit her lower lip.

"I can't explain why we're Sailor Scouts, but we are. And I can't explain why Serena is destined to lead us, but she is. And I know this, because it's what I feel, every time I become Sailor Mercury."

"You feel it?" Raye deadpanned. "Amy, that's absurd—"

"I feel it, Raye. And I think that you three, deny it though you might, feel the same thing. That little tug you can't explain, that vague familiarity that doesn't make sense, that it's the way things were meant to be. That though Serena might stumble, might fall, in the end, it's only her who can deliver us from this war." Amy looked around at the other three. "And if I have failed to empower her in that role, then I have failed her as a scout. And that is the mistake that I have to atone for!"

Mina fidgeted around. "A-Amy, you're not trying to say that Serena's behavior today was warranted, are you?"

"Of course not!" Amy looked over at Mina. "I'm saying that there's no bad guy here. We've done this. All of us. Every one of us has done things that has lead us into this situation, and now the only thing that matters is how we do things to get us out of it."

"What, Amy, you think it's just a _coincidence_ that she waited until after school ended to do this?!" Raye snapped. "She was just stringing you along until she couldn't use you for homework anymore! Even if she was somehow willing to come back, she'll probably demand that we kick Darien out again, and between the two I really think Darien does more good for us."

"Darien is just something that puts more fuel on the fire!" Amy squeezed her hands into fists. "This all stems from her feeling like her friends have abandoned her. That we don't value her. She needs to know how much we value and respect her. It hurts to admit, but I'm guilty of it too, we've eroded her confidence down to the point where she doesn't know what to do! I have been a control freak, and I have stripped her of her identity in the process! That's all this is!"

"Amy, that all sounds really nice, it does." Raye glared over at the open warehouse door. "But at the end of the day, I just don't see any reason why she _has_ to be leader, I don't see any reason why we _have_ to have her, and I don't see any reason why I should even listen to any apology she has to give, if she has one to give at all!"

Amy grimaced. "Raye, you do whatever you feel is right. If you can't find it in you to forgive Serena, that's your business. But, since you seem to hold my opinion in high regard, then listen to what I have to say." She sighed deeply. "If Serena does not fight with us, not just as an ally, but as a friend. Then we are, all of us, _dead_."

"

AN: So, that was difficult to write. I spent a lot of time on the last scene, getting the words and emotions just right, but I don't think it's ever going to be exactly the way I want it so I'm going to push it out and hope it works. There's a lot of stuff I wanted to nail in that scene, and I think I got most of it, and that's probably the best I can do.

Next chapter...probably before or around friday.


	14. Rogue

Chapter 14: Rogue

"

**Headquarters, June 11th, 7:58 AM**

Mina swept the tarp to the side and lurched into the warehouse, frantically looking around the large chamber. Her hopes were quickly dashed, however, when she could only find a single person. Amy, seated at her desk, head down.

"Amy, how long have you been here?" Mina asked, running up to her friend. Artemis, sitting on her shoulder, jumped off onto the desk and made his way down towards Amy as well.

"Half an hour," she said glumly.

"I thought you said we'd all meet here at eight." Mina stopped behind Amy.

"I did. But I was hoping Serena might already be here, and I wanted to...get here first, talk to her first." Amy put her elbows up on the desk in front of her, face drooping into her cupped palms.

"I'm sorry, Amy," Mina said quietly, patting her shoulder. "But it was dangerous for you to try to come here alone."

"I...I really thought she'd be back by now," Amy said miserably. "But when I got here, all I found was that outside the door." She pointed to her right, down at the desk. Mina looked over. It was Serena's chest bow, middle section hiding the expensive multi-function camera.

"W-well, Amy, you can't blame yourself." Mina grimaced. "You've done nothing but try to hold us together."

"My _God_," Amy moaned. "It's happening again!"

Lita and Raye burst through the tarp, looking around.

"Anything?" Lita asked quickly, looking over at Amy.

Mina shook her head. Amy bent over until her head was down on the desk, sniffling.

"Amy, what do you mean, it's happening again?" Mina asked, looking down at Amy as she started to cry.

"Oh...I'm sorry." Amy sat up and wiped her cheeks. "It's just...no, it doesn't matter."

"Amy, you can tell us," Lita insisted, walking over as Amy stood up. "Come on now."

"It's...it's my parents." Amy closed her eyes and sighed. "I just _know_ that, if they could just...come together and talk reasonably, just once, they could...oh, I'm sorry, it's stupid."

"No it's not," Mina said. "It's okay, Amy. I understand."

Raye snorted a breath out of her nostrils. "What do we do now?"

Amy massaged the bridge of her nose. "Okay. She's embarrassed, that's why she's not here right now. She's embarrassed about what she did yesterday and doesn't want to face us. She's scared. She just needs...she needs more time. She'll show up."

"Yeah, Amy, she'll show up today at noon to take the money!" Raye shouted. "Look, I'm really sorry, but we can't assume the best of her at this point. At this point, we have to assume she's still rogue, anything less and we won't be ready for her later!"

"No, she...she wouldn't do that." Amy massaged her fingertips along her forehead.

A small green light near the door flashed on and off. Silently, Lita stole away to the door and opened it to admit Luna.

"Please tell me she showed," Luna said quickly, running in and looking around the room.

"She's not here," Lita reported mournfully. "Did she—"

"I'm afraid not," Luna reported. "And her parents are starting to get worried, so someone needs to call them and cover for her."

"What's the point?" Raye asked. "It's not like she's going to go home tonight!"

"Okay." Amy turned around to face her three friends, a look of determination on her face. "I didn't want it to come to this, but we're running out of time and it's a big city. So, we're going to search the city and find her. I'll call her mother and cover for her, buy us as much time as I can."

"Amy, this is ridiculous!" Raye snapped. "It's admirable that you want to keep the group together, but sometimes you just have to let things go! We have no idea what she's thinking right now, and to act on an assumption that she's just too ashamed to come back is going to compromise us significantly!"

"Raye, we don't have a choice!" Amy started to power on the computer screens. "Yes, there is risk involved, but if we don't resolve this quickly, the police will get involved. Serena's disappearance will come back to us, and then everything's out in the open! I've buried as much of this as I can, but it won't stand up to a direct and thorough investigation, so unless we get Serena back, we lose everything! I'm doing this, regardless of how many of you want to help me!" She looked up at Lita, who took an unconscious half-step back under her gaze.

"I'm...of course I'll help," Lita said weakly.

"Yeah, I'll do whatever it takes," Mina chimed in, nodding her head. "What's the plan?"

"We comb the city, we find her, we convince her to come in," Amy replied simply, taking out her cell phone.

"Well...alright, I'm in," Raye said, cracking her knuckles. "It's what I wanted to do in the first place, anyway. Few whacks on the head should do her some good."

Amy was about to dial the Tsukino residence, but her thumb paused just before striking the screen. Slowly, she tilted her head up to look at Raye.

"Raye." She pointed her left index finger at her. "Now, you listen to me." Her voice was now flushed of any emotion, back to it's usual metered and calcuated self. "I don't care what you think of Serena. I don't care what you think of this situation. This is a _direct_ order, not up to interpretation or alteration. You are not, under any circumstance, to harm Serena. If you find her, you bring her back to headquarters, and that's _all_ you will do."

Raye's face clouded. "Amy, I wish I could be as optimistic as you are about things, but the bottom line is we have no idea what Serena's mindset is right now. The only hard evidence we have right now is her actions and words the last time we saw her, and those painted a very clear picture!"

"I am well aware that Serena's current state of mind is a variable, Raye," Amy said threateningly. "My order still stands."

"So, let me get this straight. If I find Serena, and she hasn't budged an inch from everything she said yesterday, and she comes at me with lethal intent...you expect me to not fight back?"

"That's right, Raye." Amy slipped the phone back into her pocket. "If you find her, you will take every precaution to make sure Serena does not feel physically threatened, and then you will use your words. That is my expectation of you, and it is my expectation of anyone who manages to find Serena."

"Amy, you're being ridiculous. Frankly, Serena deserves to lose some teeth, and to expect me to go out there and—"

"And then what, Raye?!" Amy rounded on Raye. "Then what happens?! You go out there, you fight Serena, what then? You think that helps anything?! You think that's going to help bring her back in?! That's the objective here, Raye! What's your objective? Killing her? Having her kill you? Maybe you'll kill each other? Where does that leave the scouts? Where does that leave the planet?"

"I'm not gonna kill her!" Raye shouted. "Just rough her up a bit, whatever it takes to get her to back off!"

"If you don't believe that an act of aggression on your part could spark a fight that results in serious injury, if not death, then you sadly underestimate Serena's capabilities! And beyond that, we are -not- fighting Serena!" Amy said, finality in her voice. "It's not an option. If you find her, you will talk to her, and you will say whatever you need to say to get her to come in. This is Serena we're talking about, she won't attack someone who is posing no threat to her."

"Are we sure about that?!" Raye countered. "Before yesterday I would have said that she wouldn't spend ten straight minutes disrespecting and insulting us, and look at what happened!"

Amy paused for a moment, then her eyes flashed back up to Raye's. "Raye. Listen. The only thing that matters here is that we act in the best interests of the group. We have exactly one objective here, and that's bringing Serena back into the group. And any actions taken by any of us that endangers that objective endangers the group, as well as everything we have fought for. So, if you're the one who finds Serena, just remember this." She pointed her right index finger up at her own face. "You hurt Serena, you answer to _me_. Do you get me?"

"Amy—"

"Do. You. Get me?" she repeated, glowering at Raye.

Raye averted her gaze, faltering underneath Amy's. In virtually every circumstance, Amy was a fairly meek presence who would reason you into agreeing with her, but at some point over the last five minutes, she had managed to become an intimidating presence. Raye's superior strength and training be damned.

Raye sighed. "Okay, Amy. We'll do it your way."

"That goes for everyone," Amy said. "Do not give Serena any reason to feel threatened by you, no matter what happens."

Raye pointed at Amy. "But if something happens out there, to any of us, then it's on your head, same as hers! You've vouched for her character, you better hope she's who you think she is!"

"I know that, Raye." Amy pulled out her cell phone. "I'm going to make the call now. Everyone, get ready. We're shifting into the four zone mapping, everyone pick a zone and get ready to comb it. Luna, Artemis, watch the computers and let us know if you see anything."

"

**Park Lane, June 11th, 10:34 AM**

"I'm sure you knew this was going to happen, Mercury, but there are going to be a _lot_ of blurry pictures of me on the internet later today."

Amy put her hands up over her eyes, shielding the sun, trying to spot something telling from her vantage point on top of the apartment building.

"I understand, Venus," Amy replied. "It's unavoidable. We can't afford to stay in the shadows right now. If Moon's mom doesn't hear from her soon, she's going to call the police."

"This is hopeless," Raye groaned. "Moon doesn't want to be found, and this is a massive city. I think I'd prefer looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Uh, Mercury," Luna chimed in. "I really, _really _hate to pile on right now, but there's a problem."

"Go ahead," Amy prompted.

"The detector just picked up a negaverse portal opening," she lamented.

"Where?!" Amy gasped.

"Near the docks," Artemis answered. "About...four minutes from your current position, Mercury."

"Something's coming through!" Luna called out. Amy tapped the side of her head and her visor popped out in front of her eyes.

"Control and F2," she instructed.

A few seconds later, her visor was filled with a graphical overlay of a part of the city map, a red dot slowly giving way to a very large white one.

"It's really strong," Amy reported. "The signal is very large."

"You think it's Zoicite?" Lita asked.

"I doubt it," Amy said. "I don't think it's strong enough." The red dot disappeared. "The portal closed, nothing else came through. Odd..."

"Okay, if I'm reading this right, here's the situation!" Artemis announced. "Mercury, you're four minutes away from this thing. Mars, you're twenty-five minutes out. Jupiter, thirty-seven minutes. And Venus, twenty-two minutes."

"Mercury, find somewhere to lay low while we make our way over there!" Raye said. "I'm on my way!"

"Got it!" Mercury looked around.

Suddenly, the entire building shook following a a violent crash. Amy shifted her stance to maintain her balance.

"I told you not to follow me."

Slowly, cautiously, Amy turned around. Serena stood there, fully decked out in Sailor Moon regalia sans the chest bow, stance wide and a dangerous scowl on her face. Very slowly, Amy turned her body towards her, hands raised by her head.

"S-Serena—"

"Where are the others?" Serena demanded, slowly approaching Amy. "Don't lie."

"T-they're not here," Amy said. "They're...they're miles away. It's just you and me, Serena. I swear."

Serena gave a little smirk. "Then you're not nearly as smart as I thought. You'd confront me by yourself?"

"Serena. Watch." In a dull flash of colors, Amy reverted back to her civilian form, donning a simple pink cardigan sweater and blue skirt. She dropped to her knees, keeping her hands up by the sides of her head. "It's just me. Nobody wants to hurt you."

Serena cast her gaze about furtively.

"They're not here, Serena. They're not going to be here for at least twenty minutes." Amy nodded slowly.

"Mercury," Luna buzzed in her ear. "She doesn't look...embarrassed to me."

Amy ignored her.

"So then you're just that foolish?" Serena asked. "You'd follow me by yourself, and then curl up into a pathetic little ball when you do?"

"Serena, listen to me," Amy said, Serena just a few feet away from her. "The things you're feeling, they're completely understandable, and you are completely justified in feeling them. I don't blame you at all for it, and I would never even dream of wanting to hurt you for it. B-but the next stage is to talk about it, and that's all I'm here for. Talking about it."

Serena rolled her eyes, stopping right in front of the kneeling Amy. "Talk about it," she repeated. "Talk about it."

"That's right, Serena." Amy leaned away from her warily.

"Gift of the silver tongue, Amy. You could talk your way into, or out of, anything. You could lock yourself in a room with someone, and after two hours you'd have them convinced you were there for the parting of the Red Sea. You're so good at spewing garbage, I'm not even sure you realize you're doing it." Serena looked up into the sky. "Talk about it. Like you talked your way into taking everything from me. Talked your way into controlling everything with the scouts. Talked your way into finding a replacement for me."

"Serena, no," Amy insisted. "I-I never wanted to do any of that, I swear. Serena, I am truly sorry for the things I have made you feel, and if you give me a chance, I can make it right. All I'm asking is for you to come back in and give us a chance."

"You're not great at the whole reading people thing, are you?" Serena said dryly. "There's no making this right, Amy!"

"Y-yes, there is," Amy insisted. "Serena, you have always been, are, and will always be, our leader. Not me. And if I have failed to honor you, as our leader, then I have failed you! And if you give me another chance, I can make that right! Just, please, let me have that chance!"

"Let me guess." Serena closed her hands into fists. "Yesterday was an emotional outburst, triggered by emotional duress. Is that your professional analysis, Amy? That sound about right?" She shook her head. "Wrong, Amy. I meant _every_ word! My only regret is that I allowed you to take as much as you did! So, I've had enough of talking. Most of all with you."

"Mercury, I hate to interrupt, but the negaverse agent is on the move," Artemis said. "It's moving south, away from your position."

Serena noticed the cue on Mercury's face as her attention shifted. "What?"

"S-Serena, a negaverse agent warped in less than five minutes ago, so—"

"Where?" Serena interrupted, immediately looking down the side of the building to scan the street.

"Serena, this isn't a normal attack, this thing is extremely—"

Serena dashed back over to Amy, grabbing her by the collar and lifting her up. "Where?!" she snapped.

Amy clenched her hands together in front of her to try to stop them from shaking. "D-docks," she said. "Moving south."

Serena released her, looking off towards the northeast. "If you, or the others, try to find me again, I _will_ kill you. That's a promise."

"Serena, no!" Amy pleaded. "You can't take this thing by yourself, it's—"

"I never needed any of you. And now I'm going to prove it. Do not follow me." With that, Serena turned and propelled herself off the building roof, leaving Amy kneeling there.

As soon as Serena was out of sight, Amy stood up. She transformed back into Sailor Mercury.

"Everyone, I'm going after her, get here as soon as you can," she announced.

"Mercury, don't be ridiculous!" Lita shouted. "We're still at least half an hour out, lay low until we get there!"

"Moon's already gone in, I don't have a choice. She needs support."

"You're kidding me," Raye spat. "Did you not hear what she said?! I think your little 'too embarrassed to talk to us' theory is laying in a million little pieces on the floor right now!"

"It doesn't matter," Amy said sternly. "If the reading is correct, this thing could kill her, there's no other option."

"No offense, Mercury, but do you really think you can help _that_ much?" Luna asked.

"I have to try!" Amy insisted.

"Mercury, it's not worth it!" Raye shouted. "Serena's not coming back, it's a lost cause! You're gonna get yourself killed, now stand down!"

"I have to go to bed tonight knowing one of two things, Mars! Either I did everything I possibly could to bring her back, or I didn't!" She went to the edge of the building and launched herself over to a nearby roof. "You three get here as soon as possible, I'll stall as much as I can!"

"

**Dock 14, June 11th, 10:45 AM**

Civilians scattered frantically, screaming as the terrifying figure stomped down the rows of footbridges that lead up to assorted boats. The stranger looked more or less human, but was at least eight feet tall, and possessed bulging muscles that didn't seem quite human. The anatomy wasn't quite human either, as it seemed to possess rough clubs for hands and feet. Every few steps he would grab one of the wooden bridges as if it was a ragdoll, raise it up, and hurl it at the crowd of runners.

A small quake shook the area, and the monster turned. Serena was there, down on one knee, spider cracks in the concrete beneath her feet. She stood up, then marched on the monster without ceremony. The monster smiled.

"Ah. The infamous Sailor Moon," it growled, voice low and gravelly. Serena didn't bother replying, coming right up to the monster and rising up for an uppercut into it's chin.

The creature was knocked back slightly, and there was a satisfying little thunk, but it didn't seem to terribly mind. "Infamously few of words, I see," it remarked. Serena threw another haymaker at the monster's left side, but her fist was stopped by the club-like left hand. The monster pushed her back. Serena simply used the momentum to spin up and slam the monster in the face with an elbow. Another satisfying little dink noise, but with disappointingly little payoff in terms of effect.

The monster grabbed her by the neck, brought her up over it's head, and slammed her down into the concrete, kicking up a cloud of dust and generating a foot-deep crater. Serena rolled out of the indentation before the monster could stomp on her chest and rolled to her feet. Planting her right foot into the ground, she launched her body into the chest of the beast. She socked it squarely in the middle, and though it took a couple steps back to take the force of the blow, it again seemed rather undeterred.

It grabbed Serena again, by her right wrist, and hurled her away from the water, into a brick building. Serena crashed through the wall, air pushed from her lungs as she impacted.

"I'm disappointed," the negaverse agent mocked, approaching her as she got to her feet. "Zoicite told me to not underestimate you. Yet, you fight like a novice. A schoolyard bully."

Serena bent down and scooped up two of the dislodged bricks and hurled them at her foe, who simply raised his hands up and knocked them out of the air. Rapidly, Serena continued the onslaught of bricks, but the barrage was easy to deflect back.

Serena lunged forward, aiming for the creature's head, but the obviously telegraphed move needed only an offhand strike to slam her back down into the ground. Serena winced, and before she could move, the creature bent down over her. Grabbing her neck and pinning her there with his left hand, he raised his right hand up and slammed right into her left temple. Serena saw stars, and then felt a second identical impact. With each blow, more and more conscious thoughts were pushed from her mind, replaced by pain.

The foe didn't stop, repeatedly driving his fist into her head, jarring her brain about. She lost count of how many times he did this at five. It was definitely more than that, but at that point, it didn't really matter. Her arms fell limp at her sides, overwhelmed.

Slowly, the monster stood up. "Very disappointing." He raised his right foot up, poising it over Serena's head, Serena unable to even think about countering.

Just as he was about to turn Serena's head into so much jelly, Amy collided into his side at full speed, knocking him a couple dozen feet away. Surprised, the monster quickly sized up the new attacker as Amy landed in front of it, down in a combat stance.

"Mercury?" the monster said disbelievingly. "Is this some sort of joke?"

"Only joke is your peripheral vision," Amy hissed, fists up.

"First, the scouts try to take me one at a time, and then they send Mercury in by herself?" The foe smirked.

"Who are you?" Amy asked, aware that every second she bought would be valuable.

"The Sailor Scout's reckoning," it answered. "Trained especially to defeat you and your friends. That fool Zoicite got it in her head that a massive, wide-scale attack was the way to victory over you brats." It shook it's head. "No. You use the one right tool. Me. And now, I'm here, to end the borrowed time you've all been living on. Now, do you really intend to fight me alone?"

"I intend to kill you alone!" Amy shouted, quickly generating a small, sharp icicle on her right hand's fingertips by sucking the moisture out of the nearby air, flinging it at the monster. She repeated this process half a dozen more times, each time firing a pointy projectile. The creature's chest simply glowed a bright red for a second, instantly melting the ice and forcing it to fall to the ground as harmless water droplets.

"Zoicite prepared me for your tricks," it said. "Your elemental powers hold no power here, Mercury." With that proclamation, it burst forward at her, cocking it's left fist back.

Amy stepped back, absorbing the vicious punch to her cheek by rotating away from it. It came at her with a right fist, aiming for her side. Remembering her training, Amy ducked her elbow down and deflected it away, with no small amount of pain in her elbow resulting.

With not much mind for fight strategy against such a weaker opponent, the monster launched another haymaker from it's right hand. Amy threw her hands out to block it before it got close to her body, keeping her arms relaxed to absorb the blow.

Another haymaker from the left, aiming for her face again. Amy threw her hands out, holding them together to brace for impact, bouncing it back, elbows protesting under the force of the strike. She ducked just in time to avoid the right returning. She used the opening to step forward and slam her fist into the right side of the beast, sidestepping to move behind the attacker. She repeatedly socked the monster in the lower back while she had it off balance.

After several such blows, the monster spun around, elbows out, forcing Amy to step back.

"Not bad," it remarked. "But this isn't a boxing match, and there's no judge to save you!" It charged forward, Amy backing up.

It swung wildly, Amy ducking underneath the blow and dashing past the monster. She threw herself at a fire hydrant just a couple feet away, ripping it from it's screws and causing a high pressure stream of water to kick up high into the air. She put her foot on the stream, then pointed her palms at the monster. Twin jetstreams of steam shot from her hands, covering the monster, blasting it in a deathly cold bath that immediately encased it in ice.

It's chest glowed red again, and it broke out from the block of ice, the extreme heat counteracting the icy streams.

"For the last time, your tricks won't work here!" it roared, spinning away from her attack and lunging at her. Amy threw herself backwards, then generated a thick fog that covered the docks. Chuckling, the monster waved it's hand and the fog immediately disappeared.

"Don't you have anything else?" it mocked.

Amy pointed at the water geyzer of her creation with her palm, and suddenly the stream changed direction, the high pressure flow striking the beast right in the side and driving it towards the ocean. It rooted it's heels into the ground to stop it's momentum. Amy charged as the monster as it stepped out of the way of the watery blast.

The creature pulled it's hand back, prepared to meet Amy's seemingly foolish charge with a blow. But a couple feet short, Amy bent down and scooped a manhole cover up from it's hole in the ground. The monster couldn't stop it's punch, so Amy simply threw the makeshift shield up to take the brunt of the attack.

With a loud thunk, the manhole cover was dented beyond use, but the beast certainly felt the force all the way up it's arm. Amy quickly threw herself down the hole, disappearing into the sewer.

The monster was about to chase her down, when streams of water suddenly erupted up from every manhole in the area. It paused, looking around, as water flooded the surrounding area.

Suddenly, every single drop of water that had spilled out from the underground gathered together in an ultra-compressed orb, right in front of the monster. It looked at the sight for just a split-second, as that was all the time it had before it slammed right into it. His strength did him no good as he was tossed into the ocean, a good twenty feet away from the dock, plunging into murky depths.

When it opened it's eyes, Amy was there, underneath the ocean with him, a bubble of air encasing her.

"You're in my world now," Amy menaced.

The monster smiled dismissively, and prepared to kick to the surface, when it felt it. An impossibly strong pull around it's waist, violently pulling down and away from land. An unthinkable amount of force that no one, not even this negaverse agent that fancied itself to be special, could fight against. A current, unnatural and precise, yet no less deadly, sucked the monster down, far away from land and into the depths. The beast screamed helplessly as Amy willed all the might of the water to pull it down into the unknown.

"The ocean betrays you, for it belongs to _me_," Amy intoned, watching the speck disappear. Minutes later, it was thousands of feet below the surface, fighting against yet another unstoppable force that cared not for it's extreme strength.

The water pressure crushed down on the beast as it was sucked down into a deep trench, yanking on every single molecule that made up the negaverse creation. There was no fighting this. Slowly, it was crushed, collapsing in on itself as if it was made of paper, until you could have fit the entire mass of the thing into a thimble.

Amy threw herself up above the surface, quickly swimming back over to the docks. She reached up and pulled herself up onto land, taking in deep breaths of oxygen.

Mina was standing there, chain in her hands, staring at Amy with wide eyes and mouth open. Amy looked around, then darted over towards the broken brick wall.

"Are you okay?!" Mina asked frantically. "Luna and Artemis stopped giving us updates on the fight like five minutes ago, we can't get either of them to say _anything_!"

Amy put her finger up to her right ear. "Enemy down," she said evenly. "Luna, confirm that enemy no longer appears on radar."

Silence. Nothing.

"Luna, confirm that enemy no longer appears on radar!"

"Confirm," Luna said weakly.

"Oh, good, you're alive!" Mina put her finger up to her ear. "So what's wrong, what happened?"

"I...think you'll want to see the tape on this one, Venus," Luna answered.

Amy looked over the area around the broken bricks. "Moon's gone," she said. "Luna, confirm that there were no other negaverse agents that appeared during the fight."

"Confirm," Luna said.

"The paramedics and police haven't shown up yet either," Amy muttered. "She must have left herself."

"Speaking of police, we should get out of here now," Mina said quickly.

"Everyone, regroup at headquarters!" Amy ordered.

"

**Headquarters, June 11th, 2:18 PM**

"I swear, I think I could watch this a million times," Lita said, rewinding the video feed from Amy's chest camera again.

"I think we already have," Raye said. "I could go for another million."

"Here it comes, here it comes..." Mina said, as the computer screen showed slow motion footage of the large, highly dense bubble of water smash into the monster, knocking it into the air and throwing it into the ocean. "BOOOOOOOOM! RIGHT! IN! THE FACE!" The camera then went underwater, as Amy encased herself in the protective bubble and went over to where the monster had landed.

"No wonder she always comes at first at swim meets," Lita said, as the creature disappeared into the ocean's depths.

"Will you three?!" Luna hissed. "I am just as...amazed at today's events as any of you, but now is not the time for jokes!" She glanced over at the far corner of the room. Amy was kneeling there, head bowed, hands clasped in front of her, facing the wall.

"She's been over there for the last two hours!" Raye said quietly. "What, do you want us to just not say anything until she's done?!"

"That would be preferable, yes," Luna said.

"Well, she's never _going_ to be done, because Serena's never coming back!" Raye said under her breath. "Seriously, is it not patently obvious by now?! Come on, Lita, Mina, back me up here!"

Lita grimaced, looking down at the ground. "I don't know...why she wouldn't be here by now if she was planning to come back."

"Seriously, if Amy saving her sorry ass and Amy singlehandedly beating that thing today isn't enough for her, then nothing will be!"

"It doesn't matter!" Luna looked over at Amy. "Amy believes she's going to come back. If you don't believe in Serena, then believe in Amy!"

"Yeah, well—"

There was a little metallic knock on the wall right by the office. Everyone turned to stare at where it came from. Amy serenely stood up from her spot in the corner, then turned around and casually walked over towards the desk.

Lita snapped out of her shock and quickly turned on one of the leftmost screens, then keyed through a couple commands. She called up the video feed from the camera right outside the office door.

"Oh my God," Lita gasped. "It's...it's her."

Everyone turned to look. Sure enough, Serena was there, encouragingly wearing a simple white t-shirt and green skirt. She slouched over in front of the door, head bowed, avoiding making eye contact with the camera.

"My God, she's...Amy, it's—"

"I know," Amy replied evenly. "I will go talk to her. Alone. If that would be alright."

"It might be a trap," Raye pointed out. "We should—"

"Raye, it's not a trap," Amy said, voice still calm and cool. "Now, this is a delicate phase, so I ask that all of you not approach or speak to Serena until I am done. This is important."

"She's all yours," Raye relented as Amy stepped past her. "But don't think for a second I'm going to forgive her!"

"I know, Raye. I understand." Amy nodded without turning to look at Raye.

"Well, what _are_ you going to do?" Mina asked.

"From this moment on, this is a business relationship, which I will terminate the moment our business is concluded," Raye said simply. "If she wants to come back and help us, I'll tolerate it, because unlike her I am mature enough to do that. But that's all I will do. And if she wants anything more than that, she has got a _lot_ of ass-kissing to do! I'm talking years worth of ass-kissing!"

Mina averted her gaze into the far end of the warehouse. "I...I don't know what I'm going to do. Play it by ear, see how I feel, I guess."

Amy opened the door into the office, disappearing through the tarp. The three other girls crowded around the wall near the door, ears pressed to the wall, ready to listen.

"Yeah, we'll...we'll see how this goes," Lita agreed. "I don't really have a...plan."

Amy took in a deep breath, straightened her sweater, and put a little smile on her face. She opened the door.

Serena stood there, head down, left shoetip digging into the ground, hands held behind her back.

"Hey," she managed, voice low.

"Hey," Amy answered, holding the door open.

"I...I lost my key," Serena muttered.

"It's okay," Amy said softly. "Do you want to—"

Explosively, Serena burst into bawling tears, then collapsed into Amy's arms. Amy caught her, gently patting her on the back. Although a daily occurance once upon a time, Serena had managed to cut back dramatically on tear output in recent months, so the significance of the outburst was lost on no one.

"Amy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she blubbered between tears. "I'm sorry!"

"Shhhh, shhhhhh," Amy whispered, slowly pulling her in through the door. "It's okay, it's okay."

"N-n-n-no it's n-not!" she bawled, weakly falling to her knees. Amy bent down as she closed the door, pulling Serena's face in towards her shoulder. "I'm s-s-such a b-bad person!"

"No you're not, Serena, it's okay." Amy slowly rubbed her right hand up and down her back.

"Y-yes I am!" Serena moaned, tears still flowing freely. "Oh, Amy, I'm so sorry, I'm a t-terrible friend, and a...a-a total f-f-f-failure at everything!"

"You're not, Serena, you're not," Amy continued. "I understand, okay? I understand. I do."

"A-Amy, I take it all back, I take it all back!" Serena squeezed Amy tighter. "You're amazing, you're great, you're the best f-friend anyone could ever have!"

"Hey, hey, come on," Amy said, running her fingers slowly through Serena's hair.

"Oh, Amy, I don't know what got into me, I don't know what's wrong with me!" Serena sniffled. "I'm t-terrible, I'm awful, I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," Amy repeated. "We all make mistakes, Serena, it's okay. Now come on, calm down."

Slowly, with great effort, Serena managed to stop the flow of tears and steady her voice. Amy helped her stand up slowly.

"Serena, I understand. I'm just...I'm just glad your back."

"S-so...you want me to come back?" Serena wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"Of course I do," Amy said. "You're my friend."

Serena sniffled a few times. "I...Amy, I don't know what to say." She bowed her head again. "I...I wanted to come back in ever since...ever since the docks, but I..."

"I get it," Amy said softly. "It's okay. I get it. So you...you saw the fight?"

Serena bobbed her head a few times. "I saw...the whole thing. You were amazing, Amy." She covered her face with her hands. "I'm so stupid, I almost...I almost got you killed trying to...trying to prove something!"

"It's okay. I forgive you," Amy said softly.

"I'll...I'll accept any punishment you want to give me," Serena said, dropping her hands back to her sides and looking down at the ground.

"That won't be necessary." Amy patted her back. "Now, come on, let's put this behind us. You have some other friends who want to see you. And starting immediately, I'm going to change the way I do things too."

Serena shook her head. "N-no, Amy, I didn't mean what I said yesterday, any of it, I was just...no, you're a genius, and you're amazing, and I want you to be leader. You should be in control of everything, I just screw everything up."

Amy matched her head shake. "Serena, no. You were right, I've been a...a b-word, and I'm as much to blame for yesterday as anyone. I've been a control freak, and I have to change, and I promise I will. I need to do it for me, I need to do it for everyone. You are our leader, and that's that. And moving forward, I'll honor that better, I promise."

Serena hugged her again. "Oh Amy, you don't deserve a terrible friend like me, I'm so sorry."

"Come on." Slowly, Amy guided her through the open door and through the tarp. Serena slowly lifted herself up from Amy, timidly approaching Lita, Raye and Mina, looking down at the ground.

"So, I know I'm an awful person, and I'd understand if none of you ever wanted to speak to me again, but...I want you three to know, I'm really, really, really sorry about yesterday. I'm ashamed of myself, and I take it all back." She meekly started fidgeting her fingers in front of her. "And if that's not enough, I understand."

Lita uneasily tugged at her shirt collar, looking up at the ceiling. "Uhhh...hey...hey, d-don't worry about it." Lita went up next to Serena, slowly wrapping her arm around the back of her shoulders. "It happens to all of us."

Raye glared at Lita, eyebrow raised, but Lita ignored it.

Serena embraced Lita in a tight hug, head coming up to her chest. "You're the sweetest person in the world, Lita! I didn't mean what I said, I take it all back!"

"I...I know you didn't mean it," Lita said carefully. "D-don't worry about it."

Mina bit her lower lip, then glanced at Raye. "Sorry, Raye, but this is kind of my thing!" With that, she dashed in, wrapping her arms around Lita and Serena, forming a three-woman group hug. "Serena, forget it. You're back, and that's what matters, that's all I care about!"

Raye looked at Mina disbelievingly, then looked down at the ground, arms folded over her chest.

Serena started sobbing again. "Y-you guys are the b-b-best friends ever! I don't deserve any of you!"

Raye glanced around, face blank, pursing her lips. She tugged at her collar a couple times, eyes continually drawn back to the scene in front of her.

She turned around, glancing back at Amy, who was just watching the scene with a peaceful smile on her face.

She turned back to the three in front of her.

"Oh, screw it!"

She stepped forward and joined in the hug, four teenage bodies wrapped together, Serena in the middle sobbing.

"I'm...I'm glad you're back, Serena," Raye said, wrapping her arms around Lita and Mina. "I am."

"Thank you, Raye," Serena said, managing to stop crying again. "I'll...I'll be better from now on, guys. Really. I've been horrible for the last month, I've been completely unfair, and...all I can say is that I'm going to be better."

"It's...it's okay, Serena," Raye said quietly. "I...I forgive you."

Slowly, the quartet of bodies separated, Serena left to stand on her own in the middle of all of them.

"That...that means a lot to me, Raye, it does." Serena nodded.

Raye pointed at Serena. "But just for future reference, I am letting you off a _massive _hook. Just something to keep in mind."

"I know," Serena said, walking over towards the desk where Luna and Artemis were sitting.

"Seriously, the hook I am letting you off of is so big, you could catch a blue whale with it!" Raye added. "Just...yeah."

"Sooooo..." Serena stopped uneasily in front of Luna, though she had a small smile on her face. "Anything you wanna lecture me about right now, Luna?"

"About a million things," Luna replied, rolling her eyes. "But I do owe you, so...in light of the circumstances, I'll just go with...welcome back."

"Oh, and Amy," Raye said, walking over to her. "You were right about a lot of things. But I was right about one thing."

"And what might that be?" Amy asked.

Raye grinned. "Serena _did _just need a couple of whacks on the head to get her mind right."

Amy smiled. "I suppose so."

"

AN: Hope to update at least once this weekend.


	15. Trust

Chapter 15: Trust

"

AN: After a couple fairly intense and fast moving chapters I'm gonna slow things down a bit here for this one. So, just to say in advance, this chapter is at least part filler. I like it, it was fun to write, but it's a good amount of fluff. I realize this, and will pick things up again.

"

**Headquarters, June 13th, 9:56 AM**

"No, Amy, really, I think it would help me feel less guilty," Serena insisted. Amy was seated at the desk, eyes on one of the computer screens, fingers a blur on the keyboard. Serena was sitting on a chair next to her."I mean, I don't usually think things like this, but I really feel like you should punish me somehow."

"Serena, I'm not worried about it, really. Forget it, let's just move on," Amy replied.

"I could...I could scrub the entire warehouse with a toothbrush, or something!" Serena offered. "That would teach me."

"That won't be necessary." Amy kept her eyes on the screen.

"Okay, okay, here's an idea." She stood up, putting her hands at her sides. "You get to hit me in the face, five times. Free shots."

Amy shot her a sideways glance. "And what good would that do anyone?"

"I dunno, I kinda feel like...I deserve something." Serena looked down at the ground shamefully.

"I'm not going to hit you," Amy said simply. "Serena, I'm perfectly content with moving forward and forgetting the events of a couple days ago, really!"

"Yeah, but...I made you do my homework for a month too!" Serena groaned, sitting back down.

Amy winced. "Yes, that...was a rotten thing to do, Serena. But it's water under the bridge, and the best thing we can do is move past it and try to prevent a recurrence."

"Wait, how about..." Serena furrowed her brow in thought. "Okay, how about this? When school starts back up in september, I'll do _your_ homework for a month!"

Amy's fingers froze on the keyboard mid-stroke, and she turned her head to stare at Serena flatly.

"That may be the funniest thing you've ever said," Amy deadpanned.

"Thank you," Serena said quietly.

"Serena, listen, you want to make it up to me?" Amy asked.

"Yes, of course!" Serena enthused.

"Then here's what you can do for me," Amy continued. "Right now, we are hammering the negaverse, and they're going to be forced to escalate things. So, sometime in the not-too-distant future, we're going to be pressed very hard, and we're all going to have to give everything we have. So, if you want to atone for your actions, then be prepared for when that moment comes, and make sure you're ready to come through for us. That's what I want from you."

Serena nodded. "Okay. You have my word, I won't let you down when the time comes."

The door swung open and the tarp was pushed to the side, Darien strolling in, gold-colored trophy in his right hand. Amy covered her mouth and leaned in close to Serena. "And Darien doesn't need to know what happened while he was out."

"Wow," Darien said loudly, looking around. "I see you managed to not burn the place down while I was gone." He stopped in front of Serena.

"And I see you're still a hatchet-faced prick," Serena retorted.

"Do you see this trophy?" he asked, holding up the statue and showing her the placard on the bottom that read 'Kingston Triathlon, First Place'.

"Did you seriously bring that thing all the way over here just to try to get a rise out of me?" Serena questioned.

"Yup." Darien turned away, walking over towards the corner where Raye, Lita and Mina sat on the couches.

Serena snorted, then looked down at the ground. "Hey...I'm...I'm sorry about what I said about your mother," she rushed out.

Amy's fingers again stopped their furious pattern on the keyboard, head turning to look over at Serena.

"And also...wait, what?" Darien turned back around to look at Serena.

"What I said about...about your mother, I'm sorry." Serena grimaced, not making eye contact with Darien. "I shouldn't say things like that, and I was out of line."

Darien raised an eyebrow at her, then glanced around the room uneasily. "...okay? I said I didn't care."

"Well, I do," Serena dug the tip of her shoe down into the ground. "I...I crossed the line, and I take it back. I'm sorry."

Amy slowly moved her hands into her lap, crossing her index and middle fingers together, afraid to even breathe as Darien measured his reply.

"Uh...okay, sure, whatever." Darien turned back around and walked over towards the corner. He gave a little sharp laugh. "What, you gearing up for another run into the danger zone?"

"NO!" Serena shouted, advancing on him as he went over to the fridge and opened it. "Oh, and just to be clear, I don't take back _anything_ else I have _ever_ said to you! You are still King Douchebag." She pointed her index finger at his chest. "And a thousand years from now, all the douchebags in the world will come together, and they will build a statue of you made out of tanning beds and hairspray, and it will be bigger than the Tower of Babel!"

"Uh-huh," Darien said, pulling a bottle of V8 juice from the fridge and setting it down on the counter. He closed the fridge, then pulled his white tanktop up over his head, exposing his bare chest. He tossed the small garment into the corner.

"HEY!" Serena shouted. "Put your shirt back on!"

"Nope," Darien said, grinning as he picked the bottle back up and walked past her.

"Put. YOUR SHIRT ON!" She screeched, pointing over at the discarded item of clothing.

"NO!" Darien retorted.

"PUT IT ON!" Serena yelled.

"YOU'RE NOT MY SUPERVISOR!" Darien pointed at her.

Amy sighed, taking her hands out of her lap and putting them back on the keyboard. "And I was a fool to hope," she said under her breath.

"Hey, Darien!" Mina called out, raising her cell phone up towards him. Darien turned towards her reflexively, and Mina quickly snapped a picture. Serena shot her a death glare.

"

**Lita's Apartment, June 13rd, 6:30 PM**

"Have you _ever_ seen someone so _obviously_ compensating for something in your life?!" Serena seethed, leaning against the fridge, arms crossed over her chest.

"Uh, Serena..." Mina said uneasily.

"Seriously, I'd be surprised if you could even see his dick with the naked eye," she grumbled.

"Hey, Serena, remember when you were going to stop taking out your anger at Darien on us?" Mina asked timidly. "Remember when you said that?"

"Right, right, sorry." Serena rubbed her forehead. "He just...he makes me so mad."

"Yeah, I understand that it can...feel like that," Mina said slowly.

"Yeah, it feels like that because that's what it is!" Serena insisted. "God, I hate him so much..."

"Yeah, maybe...or, _maybe_ you just hate yourself because you're...attracted to him?" Mina suggested.

"Mina, do not start with that again," Serena warned.

"Serena, look. Now that you're past your little ultra-bitch phase, I think we should use this opportunity to explore the possibility!" Mina put her hands out by her sides. "Seriously, I'm kind of an expert at this sort of thing!"

"Yeah, Mina, like I could _ever _be attracted to that asshole," Serena said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh please, Serena," Lita butted in, going over to the stovetop with a large gray pot in her hands. She set it down on one of the burners, igniting it by turning the little knob. "You're so hot for him, I could cook this chili on your forehead."

Serena scoffed. "Whatever."

Lita took the lid off the top of the pot. "And frankly, I think I'm speaking for everyone here, we're all pretty sick of the non-stop fighting, so if you could just move on from the denial stage and come to terms with it, we'd appreciate it a lot."

"There's nothing to come to terms with!" Serena insisted.

"You spent months fawning over Tuxedo Mask, wishing you knew who he was. I understand finding out it was Darien was...shocking, but come on now, it's been over a month!" Mina shrugged. "Isn't it time to move on? And, as the resident expert here, trust me when I say that people don't talk to each other as much as you and Darien do without it being backed by mutual attraction!"

"Yeah, whatever, Miss Lonelyhearts." Serena rolled her eyes.

Amy and Raye were sitting over on the couch, watching the trio go at it.

"Barely twenty-four hours later, and they're all buddy-buddy with her again," Raye said quietly. "Unbelievable."

"I think it's admirable," Amy said. "They're moving past it, quickly and smoothly."

"But perhaps not _properly_," Raye countered.

"Now come on, Raye. As I recall, you forgave her as well," Amy said patiently.

"Yeah, I forgave her, doesn't mean I'm _forgetting_ what she did! Frankly, she can apologize all she wants, but at the very least she did showcase a pretty tremendous capacity for evil, and I'm not going to just forget it."

Amy pursed her lips. "I understand, Raye. I do. But just try to remember that she's a good person." Amy got up and walked over to the stovetop, looking at the pot. "I can't wait to try it, Lita!"

"Yeah, it's a new recipe, I'm pretty excited," Lita said. "It'll be a bit, though, so...Amy, I wanted to talk to you about something important."

"Sure," Amy said, sitting down on a barstool behind the kitchen counter.

"Well...I've been thinking," Lita said timidly. "I know we kinda decided we weren't going to talk about what happened a couple days ago, but I do want to talk about...something."

"Go ahead." Everyone in the room turned to Lita.

"Now, I can only speak for myself, but...I've put a lot of thought into it, and really...when you get right down to it, a lot of the problems we had...they kinda stem from the money, don't they?"

Amy put her hand up to her chin. "I suppose some of the roots could be traced to us obtaining the fortune. That's a fair statement."

"But, at the same time, I know the money's been really useful for us, and we'd in a lot of trouble without it, so...I don't know, what I'm trying to say is...I'm kind of conflicted." Lita bit her lower lip.

"I see," Amy said, nodding. "Go on, I'm listening."

"I mean, obviously, the warehouse, the computers, the radar, all of that...we couldn't have done that with allowance money, and if we didn't have that stuff who knows where we'd be, so obviously it's been great, but...I know it's complicated, but if having the money is going to cause all this conflict, then...well, I don't know."

"I think I understand," Amy said. "Yes, the money has certainly changed certain things, and perhaps...exacerbated some character flaws within us, leading to things like what happened a couple days ago."

"So...Amy, it's your call, you're good at these things." Lita scratched the back of her head. "If you think we should...get rid of the money, then...well, I'd understand."

Mina sighed deeply. "It...literally kills me to say—"

"Figuratively," Amy corrected.

"Right, figuratively kills me, but...I see what Lita's saying. And if us having the money means we threaten our friendships, then it's not worth it." Mina nodded. "So...Amy, you're good at weighing risk and reward, what's your call?"

"Well, I'm flattered you'd say that, Mina," Amy said. "But it's not my decision to make." She looked over at Serena. "That responsibility falls to our leader."

Serena blushed. "A-Amy, c'mon, you don't have to say that—"

"Yes, Serena. I do." Amy got up and went over to Serena. "I can show you the doors, Serena. And I will do so to the best of my abilities. But it's you who gets to walk through one or the other." She reached forward and grabbed Serena's hands in hers. "I am capable of ending our financial-based endeavors and resorting to more primitive methods of combating the negaverse. It will be much more difficult, but I'm prepared to accept the challenge. If you feel that us having the money compromises you, or any of us, then I will take action to eliminate the money from the equation."

"Amy, you're...you're the decision-maker here, the leader, the stuff a couple days ago proved that, it's your—"

"Serena." Amy reached her right hand up and placed it on her shoulder. "This is your decision to make."

Serena looked down at the floor, then back up to Amy. "Really?"

"Yes."

"O-okay." Serena nodded, then walked over to the counter and sat down on the barstool. "Okay." She closed her eyes. "Alright, alright...well...okay." She opened her eyes again and turned around slowly to look at everyone. "We...we keep the money. We're going to need it."

"Alright, Serena." Amy nodded. "Then that's what we will do."

"We...we just have to be better," Serena declared. "Especially me. We have to understand what the money is for, and understand that it's a tool. That's all it is, a means to an end."

"That sounds good, Serena," Amy said. "We'll do that. But, I think I also have to be better. I need to be more...trusting. So, I've got a little surprise." She reached down into her left hip pocket slowly. "Serena, some of the things you said to me the other day...some of those things, you were right."

Serena shook her head rapidly, but Amy put her palm out towards her.

"No, Serena, you...you were right about some things. I have been overbearing, I've been a control freak. And I'm sorry." She frowned, looking down at the ground. "It's just...sometimes, I'm really afraid that if I'm not in control of something, it'll...go bad. And I have to get past that. And I will. And that starts today."

She withdrew her hand from her pocket and quickly stepped over to Serena. She had a little white plastic card in her hand. She extended it towards Serena.

"This afternoon, me and Darien opened some side accounts at the bank. This debit card is attached to one of the accounts. The account has ten thousand dollars in it, and...it's yours."

Serena stared down at the card in disbelief. "...A-Amy."

"Obviously, someone your age shouldn't go around and use the card at stores, at least for large purchases, but you'll be able to withdraw cash from ATMs," Amy continued. "The pin number is your birth month and day, you might want to change it as soon as possible. And, of course, what you buy and which people see what you buy is something to be mindful of, but...I trust you."

"B-but...of course, I can only use it for...scout-related expenses, right?" Serena said quietly.

"You can use it for anything you want," Amy said, voice low. "Because I trust you. It's yours, Serena. Take it."

"Amy, you don't...have to do this, if you don't feel comfortable, really." Serena fidgeted.

"It's okay. I need to trust you, and I do. Take it."

Slowly, Serena reached forward, taking the edge of the card, gently pulling it towards her. Her fingers slipped off, however, Amy pinching her fingers on her end of it.

"Uh...Amy, really, if you're not ready to do this, it's okay, you don't have to give it to me," Serena said uneasily.

"No, no, no, Serena, it's yours. Take it, I insist. This is something I need to do." Amy nodded.

Serena reached forward again, gripping the card with her thumb and forefinger, and gave it a tug towards her. Amy, however, had it in a vice-like grip, and it didn't so much as budge.

"Amy, are...you okay?" Serena asked.

"G-go on, Serena. Take it." Her voice was slightly higher in pitch than usual.

Serena reached forward again, this time firmly squeezing the card, then sharply yanking it towards her. Amy's fingers fought against her pull, Serena grunting with effort, but after several seconds the card squeaked out of Amy's grip.

Amy closed her eyes, a smile frozen on her face, slowly dropping her hand to her side.

"I have the debit card in my hand," Serena said slowly. "Are you okay, Amy?"

"Yes, Serena," Amy answered, voice still strained and eyes still closed.

"A debit card to a bank account. With ten thousand dollars in it." Serena continued. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Amy nodded quickly, her breathing starting to quicken.

"I am putting the debit card in my pocket," Serena said, moving it to her hip. "The debit card. To the ten thousand dollar account. Is going in my pocket. Is that okay?"

Amy kept on sucking in large bursts of air through her nostrils, immediately expelling them, the speed of this process picking up with each passing second.

"Amy?"

"Oh, goodness!" she gasped quietly, keeling over to the ground, gravity guiding her to a violent thud on the carpeted floor, unconscious before impact.

"AMY!" Serena yelped.

"

**Lita's Apartment, June 13rd, 6:49 PM**

"Amy, I'm serious, you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Amy was seated on the couch, holding a brown paper bag in her right hand, holding the open end up to her mouth and puffing air in and out of it, causing it to inflate and deflate repeatedly.

"Nono," Amy insisted between breaths. "Serena, I want you to keep it."

Serena glanced down at the carpet. "Okay, if you're...sure. You...seem a little freaked out."

"Don't worry about it...I have a very delicate sense of smell, it must have been the chili heating up," Amy said quickly.

Serena couldn't help but grinning. "I'm sure."

"We okay in here?" Lita asked, coming into the room with a glass of water. She offered it to Amy, who took it and quickly drank it down.

"Yes," Amy answered after the water was gone. "And I have cards for you and Raye and Mina as well."

"Should we give you a half hour inbetween handing out each one?" Lita asked sarcastically.

"Nono," Amy said, shaking her head. "You...you can have them right now!" She reached down towards her hip pocket again, but stopped just short of it. "M...maybe you should just reach in there and take them."

Lita stepped forward, reaching down towards Amy's pocket. Raye and Mina walked over from the kitchen as Lita pulled three nearly-identical cards out.

"The green one is yours," Amy said. "Red is Raye. Yellow is Mina. Pin numbers are your birth months and days, get them changed as soon as possible." Lita distributed them out.

"You sure you're okay with this?" Raye asked, Amy closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath.

Amy nodded. "Yes. I'm sure of it. If we have any chance of succeeding in our mission, then we have to trust each other, and that starts with me doing this." She slowly got to her feet.

"Alright. I gotta go attend to the chili," Lita said, turning around and going back over to the stove.

Serena got up next to Amy, hands ready to grab her. "Are you sure you're ready to get up?"

"Yes, Serena, I'm fine," Amy said confidently. "I'm going to go freshen up in the bathroom." She headed down the hallway.

"So, Amy!" Lita called out loudly, stirring the chili. "Does this mean I can redo my kitchen?!"

_Thud!_

"LITA!" Serena yelled, running down the hallway towards Amy's limp body.

"I was joking!"

"

**Lita's Apartment, June 13rd, 7:01 PM**

"I am...incredibly sorry," Lita said sympathetically. Amy was sitting down on the floor of the kitchen, holding a bag of frozen peas on the top of her head, again huffing and puffing into the brown bag.

"It wasn't your fault," Amy panted out.

"Yeah it was." Lita scooped a bunch of the chili out of the pot and poured it into a bowl.

"Nonsense," Amy insisted. "I...slipped, that's all."

"Right." Lita rolled her eyes. "I was joking, okay? You have my word, I won't redo the kitchen."

"Well, I'm not...saying that you _can't_ redo the kitchen," Amy said uneasily. "Wow, double negative, must have really bumped my head...anyway, I'm not saying that."

"Actions speak louder than words, honey," Lita said, pushing the bowl over towards the edge of the counter. "You couldn't have conveyed your message any better, I get it."

"Now, now, Lita, that's...not what that means, necessarily," Amy said slowly, slowly getting to her feet.

Lita poured another bowl of chili, looking at Amy out of the corner of her eye. "So...I _can_ redo the kitchen?"

"No. No, what I'm saying...is that it is your money, and you may do whatever you see fit with it, and I trust you to make the right judgements, and not use the money in a way that compromises us."

Lita bit the inside of her cheek. "So...I can't redo the kitchen."

"Hey, hey, those are your words," Amy said, pointing at Lita.

Lita glanced over at the far wall of the kitchen, silence hanging in the air for several seconds. "And?"

"And...also mine, yes." Amy went over to the counter and grabbed one of the bowls.

Lita quickly finished serving the food up into bowls, the girls coming up to take one.

"Well, Amy, this was a truly incredible gesture of trust on your part. And I won't soon forget it." Serena patted her on the back. "And if there's anything I can do to make this easier for you, just tell me and I'll do it."

"Well...save your receipts, please." Amy picked a spoon up off the counter.

"

**Headquarters, June 14th, 8:44 PM**

"Mercury, are you sure you're comfortable with me doing this?" Mina asked warily, looking down at the keyboard.

"Yes, Venus, I am," Amy buzzed in through the earpiece. "Trust me, nothing you do from that keyboard is capable of destroying the computer. I need to start teaching you guys how to use it, and a live-fire exercise is the best way to learn. Now, has the negaverse signature moved?"

"Uhhh..." Mina started at the computer screen in front of her, black and not-moving.

"Venus, what do you see?" Amy asked.

"Black screen," Mina said timidly.

"Did you...turn the screen off?"

"Uhhh...someone...turned off the computer," Mina rushed out. "It's difficult to say who, and it doesn't matter at this point."

Amy gave a little chuckle. "Well, turn it back on."

"Okay," Mina said, tapping the O and N keys on the keyboard. She waited for a few seconds. "Uh...it's not working! Oh God, I broke it!"

"Venus, did you...did you try to turn the computer on with the keyboard?"

"Yes! I knew this was going to happen, I broke the computer!" Mina grabbed the sides of her head.

"You okay over here?" Raye came over behind Mina, hands in the pockets of her light red jacket.

"No, we're not okay! I broke the computer!" Mina shouted. "Mercury, why would you give me this kind of responsibility?!"

"Uh...Mina, it's not on," Raye said, pointing over at the computer box.

"Yes, Raye, exactly! Look." She tapped the O and N keys again. "O, N, nothing!"

Amy fought back a sigh. "Mars, could you please?"

Raye reached over, finger jabbing at the blue button on the front of the computer box, in short order, the lights sprung to life and the screen began to show quick diagnostics as it powered on.

"Oh," Mina said. "Well, that's stupid."

"How do you not know how to use a computer?" Raye asked. "What year do you think this is?"

"My mom won't buy me one because she thinks I'll break it!" Mina said bitterly.

"Yeah, but, haven't you ever written a book report for school or something?" Raye raised an eyebrow at Mina.

"Yes!" Mina answered. "In the school computer lab, and the computers in there are always on!"

"Wow," Raye deadpanned.

"Venus, hit the button on the front of the speaker underneath the screen, please," Amy instructed. Mina did so cautiously. "Mars, be nice." Amy's voice came out through the small speaker now. "Now, Venus, hit the switch underneath the desk."

Mina did so, causing the screens to blink and switch.

"Bring up the map, hit F4, and tell me where the blinking dots are."

Mina clicked on one of the desktop icons, bringing the map up on the screen.

"Okay, F4, that's..."

"Along the top of the keyboard," Amy said.

"Alright...okay, I think they're in the same place as they were before," Mina said slowly.

"Zoom in on it to make sure they haven't moved."

"Uhhh..." Mina looked down at the keyboard.

"Put the mouse over the dots, then hold down shift and press the up key."

"Okay, it's working," Mina said. "Uh...yeah, they're still on 73rd and Pine, by the intersection. Sorry I'm so slow, must be driving you two nuts."

"Don't worry, both of these signatures are very tiny," Amy explained. "I wouldn't be asking you to do this if I thought this was a high-risk situation. Okay, thank you Venus, me and Moon will evaluate the situation. Buzz in if you see anything else pop up on radar. Mercury out." The other side of the radio went dead.

Mina took in a deep breath. "Man, this is pretty amazing. All the things you can do with a computer."

Lita got up from the couch in the corner, setting her book down. "Yeah, thank God for them internets." She walked over to the computer. "Nice job. You know, computers are pretty cheap these days, be pretty easy to pick one up with your personal operations account."

"Oh yeah, speaking of that, you guys come up with any ideas on what to do with your money?" Raye asked. "I mean, I'm trying to come up with the right balance of...enjoyment and responsibility."

"I did a lot of eye-shopping today," Mina said. "But didn't pull the trigger on anything. I just really don't want to be the one who lets Amy down."

"Well, I had a little idea, but...it involves all of us," Lita said. "So if you guys are interested in something a little...creative, just ask."

"What do you got?" Raye asked.

"One word." Lita put her spread hands out by the sides of her head. "Tontine."

"A what now?" Mina asked.

"A tontine," Lita repeated. "Everyone puts, say...a thousand dollars into a joint account, the money stays there until all but one person has passed away, and then—"

"—that last surviving person gets the whole thing." Raye rubbed her chin. "Yeah, okay, I got ya."

"So, the last person gets...five thousand dollars?" Mina looked up at Lita. "I dunno, not really feeling it."

"That's just the base amount," Lita explained. "You have to factor in the compound interest."

"Compound what?" Mina asked dully.

"Uh...just trust me on this one, Mina."

**73rd and Pine, June 14th, 8:51 PM**

Serena and Amy were prone on top of a small building on the intersection, Amy holding a small spyglass, extended out towards the restaurant across the street. She had her visor over her eyes as well.

"So, let's go in there and take them out before they hurt someone," Serena insisted, looking over at Amy.

"Hold up, Moon. This isn't a garden variety negaverse assault." Her spyglass was pointed at two men in suits, seated at the bar, silently eating a plate of nachos.

"So, you're sure those two are negaverse agents?" Serena asked. "I mean, they look very, very human to me."

"I know," Amy muttered. "And they're also extremely weak. I don't think they're here to cause any damage. There's something else going on here, and I want to try and figure it out."

"Maybe there aren't any good nacho places in the negaverse," Serena whispered. "I dunno, this is pretty weird. Should we move closer?"

"I don't want to risk scaring them off, and we don't know anything about the makeup of that restaurant," Amy replied. "Let's just camp here, see what they do."

"Alright." Serena cautiously looked around the street. Silence hung in the air for several seconds.

"So. How are you doing, Serena?" Amy asked, eyes still on the two below.

"Don't you mean Moon?" Serena asked.

"No, right now I'm...I'm talking specifically to Serena."

Serena shrugged. "Pretty good, I guess. I mean, considering I deserve to be hanging from the warehouse rafters by my wrists for the rest of the summer, I can't complain."

Amy gave a tiny laugh. "I meant you and Raye."

"Eh?"

"I...I know she hasn't come back all the way from what happened the other day, and I've noticed that she hasn't been especially warm towards you since, so...you holding up?" Amy tilted the spyglass around so she could quickly take a look at the rest of the restaurant.

"I kinda expected it," Serena said dismissively. "She forgave me, and that's...more than I deserve anyway, and she's never been my biggest fan. It's fine, I don't care."

"I think you do," Amy countered. "And I just want to say...she'll come around. Give her some time. Don't let it get to you. She has a deep respect for you, and in time she'll remember it."

"It's not getting to me," Serena said. "Only thing getting to me is...Lita and Mina, can you believe the nerve of those two? Suggesting that _I_ could ever be attracted to Darien?"

"Uh-huh," Amy said, giving a tiny grin.

"I mean...do I spend a lot of time around him because of our business relationship? Yes. Does his giant ego and general douchebaggery provoke me into arguing with him a lot? Yes. But...am I _attracted_ to him?"

"Is a pig's behind pork?" Amy snarked, glancing over at her for a split second before turning back to the eyeglass. Serena glared at the back of Amy's head. "Oh, I'm sorry Serena, did you want me to say what I was thinking, or just what you wanted to hear?"

"Amy, not you too," Serena said darkly. "Listen, I—"

"I may not be the...expert...that Mina is on the subject, but I'm pretty sure if you _really_ hated him, you just wouldn't talk to him." Amy carefully reached forward and wiped the tip of the spyglass off with a tiny cloth. "Just something to think about."

"I talk to him because he pisses me off!" Serena hissed. "That makes me bad at controlling my emotions, doesn't mean anything else, so you can just—"

"Wait a minute...something's happening!" Amy said. Serena peeked over the edge, and saw a couple new men in suits join the two at the counter.

"Are those negaverse agents too?" Serena asked.

"No, those are...those are normal humans." Amy squinted. "They're...they're talking. Wish we could hear what they're saying."

"There's no way we could get close enough to hear," Serena said under her breath. "Unless you want to try putting on civilian clothes and getting in there."

"Not an option. They're in the bar," Amy muttered. "I don't think there's anything we can do."

The pair hung there for several minutes, silently trying to pick up on clues, but there was very little to go on. Finally, one of the negaverse agents pulled a bundle of green paper slips from the inside of his jacket and pushed it across the table to the other two.

"Is that money?" Serena asked.

"Indeed," Amy answered. "Okay, it's just an educated guess, but...the negaverse has figured out we have a radar system that can detect them, so they're attempting to establish some sort of human liason to work with. Maybe some sort of organized crime syndicate." She carefully reached up and tapped a tiny button on top of the spyglass, snapping a photo of the conversation. She repeated this several times. "It's the best assumption I have right now."

"That's gonna change things," Serena said. "Should we barge in there and stop them?"

Amy pulled her eye away from the glass, shaking her head. "No. Even if we stopped them here, we can't stop them from doing it later. Not every time, at least. At least this way they won't know that we know what they're up to, and we have a picture of the person they're trying to work with. It's best if we just leave with what we have." Amy scooted herself away from the ledge, then carefully pushed herself up. Serena copied her. "Let's report this back."

"

**Headquarters, June 14th, 9:21 PM**

"So, starting tomorrow morning, we're going to put a lot of time into researching this this angle. We need to figure out who those two were, and why the negaverse would approach them specifically." Amy reached down towards her belt, plucking the key out of a small pocket and going up to the inner office door.

"Sure thing," Serena said, expression suddenly darkening. "Oh, and Amy, one thing."

Amy turned to look at her just as she was about to put the key in the lock. "Hm?"

"I am _not_ attracted to Darien!" she hissed, leaning in closer to her. "Got it?"

"Okay," Amy said lightly, turning back to the door.

"No, I'm serious, okay?" Serena crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not attracted to him!"

"I heard you." Amy unlocked the door, fingers reaching up to key in the combination.

"I mean...I'm sure he's attracted to _me_," she added. Amy smirked to herself. "I mean, he'd have to be blind to not..."

Amy giggled a little bit as she twisted the doorknob open.

"Hey, hush up!" Serena snapped.

"Didn't say anything," Amy remarked as she strolled through the door, Serena following with a scowl. "Okay everyone, we've got some potentially big news to report, so everyone..." Amy looked over to the three girls, who were crowded around one of the whiteboards. Lita was holding a marker in her right hand, about a dozen math equations on the board behind her, Mina sitting in a chair and looking up at her, Raye watching from Lita's side.

"Oh, hey girls," Lita said, waving at them.

"Huh?" Amy walked over to the board. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, we were just—"

"It's summer," Amy mused, looking at the various math equations on the board. Suddenly, she looked at Mina. "Wait, are you in summer school?!"

"N-no, Lita was just trying to help me understand something," Mina explained.

"Yeah, not going great," Lita admitted. She handed Amy the marker. "Could you do me a favor and explain the concept of compound interest to Mina?"

"Uh, I could, but...wait a minute." She stared up at the board for a moment, then turned her gaze to Lita. "Please tell me you're not doing what I think you're doing."

"What do you...think I'm doing?" Lita asked.

Amy gave a little exasperated sigh. "Okay, I'm going to extend you a fairly massive benefit of the doubt here. So, just for your information, tontines are _illegal_!"

Lita scoffed. "You're one to talk."

"Yeah, little miss dummy corporation," Raye added.

"Hey, that was for the greater good!" Amy insisted.

"And this isn't?" Lita asked. "Think about it! Eighty years from now, we'll all be rotting away in a nursing home, sitting on a pile of maxed-out credit cards and hospital bills, suffering under a perpetually flailing economy!"

"So, we thought that it might be noble to make sure that at least one of us doesn't have to pass on a crushing amount of debt to our children!" Raye explained.

Amy pursed her lips. "...okay, that is a...noble thought, but—"

"Tontines are illegal because the participants tend to end up trying to kill each other," Lita continued. "You don't actually think we'd _kill _each other over money, do you?"

"Yeah, Amy, you..._trust_ us, right?" Raye leaned in close to Amy's face.

"Uh...of course I trust you guys—"

"And don't tell me you're not more than capable of setting up a high-yield growth account for this," Lita interrupted.

Amy put her hand up to her chin, thinking. "...yes, that would actually be...really easy compared to a lot of this other stuff—"

"Then what's the problem?" Raye asked.

Amy furrowed her brow, deep in thought. "...well...okay, you guys seem to have put a good amount of thought into this, and you _do_ make some valid points—"

"And let's face it, Amy," Mina said, standing up. "You're odds-on favorite to take the pot."

"Huh?" Amy looked at Mina.

"You have really good eating habits and you see the least amount of combat out of all of us," Mina explained.

Amy fell silent. She glanced over at the whiteboard, looking the equations over for several seconds. Her eyes went down to glance at the red marker in her right hand.

"Hm." An impish little smile popped up on her face.

"

**Headquarters, June 14th, 9:35 PM**

"And that, Mina, is compound interest at work."

The whiteboard now contained a line graph and a small spreadsheet of values, showcasing rate of growth over an extended period of time. Mina looked it all over, grinning.

"Okay, I...I get it!" she said brightly.

"Good!" Amy enthused, turning to the other four girls with a grin on her face. "Now. Who wants in?!"

All four girls immediately raised their hand, cheering loudly.


	16. Stakeout

Chapter 16: Stakeout

"

**Headquarters, June 15th, 10:08 AM**

"Just in case you forgot, I'm only here in the first place because I know for a fact you're not competent enough to defend the planet from the negaverse!"

"For your information, the planet was doing just fine for more than half a year before you even knew what was going on, and that was with your repressed homosexual side barely ever showing up!"

Lita was sitting behind Amy, holding a small book open in her lap, face strained with the effort of trying to block out the voices and read it. Amy was at the computer, three screens crowded in front of her face, parsing through webpages with great speed even though her focus was constantly pulled towards the argument.

"Hey," Lita whispered. "Remember when you said they wouldn't be able to keep this up forever?"

"I may have never been more wrong about anything in my life," Amy moaned.

"Believe me, Serena, I'm just as pissed off about me having to be here as you are—" Darien started, standing next to the coffee machine as it brewed.

"Oh, I don't think that's _possible_!" Serena snapped.

"—so trust me, I will be doing everything in my power to conclude our business as fast as possible, so I can put this whole stupid partnership behind me!" He grabbed an empty coffee cup from a shelf above his head. Raye and Mina were laying down on the couches, attempting to read comic books. Raye kept shooting dirty looks at Serena and Darien. Luna and Artemis were on the coffee table, trying hopelessly to get to sleep.

"_But_, ten years from now, when I'm a rich and successful doctor, living in a condo on the beach, I'll be sure to swing by whatever dive bar you're working as a waitress at, so we can both know once and for all which one of us won at the game of life!" Darien smirked, pouring the coffee into the cup.

"I don't care _what_ you become, Mister!" Serena barked. "From April 3rd through May 3rd of this year, _you_ were my errand-boy!" She grinning maniacally. "So, for the rest of your idiot life, I've got _that_ on you!"

"Oh my GOD!" Raye yelled, throwing her comic book down and kicking to her feet, scowling at the two. They turned to look at her. Raye threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Just screw already!"

"No kidding," Luna muttered, lowering her head and closing her eyes.

"I've got it!" Amy said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. "Everyone, gather around, I think we've got some leads!"

Everyone ran over to the computer, no shortage of death glares exchanged between Serena and Raye on the way.

"Okay, last night I photographed these two meeting with the two negaverse agents," Amy said, pointing at the left screen, where she had her picture images in focus. "It took some digging, but I was able to find the one on the left in an old news report. Barry Lynch, indicted on several Grand Theft Auto charges eight years ago, got his sentence reduced and got out two years ago. In and out of detention centers when he was younger by the looks of it."

"Alright, let's find this guy," Mina said, punching her left fist into her right palm.

"Not so fast," Amy interrupted. "The one on the right is Samuel Walsh, charged with first degree murder four years ago, but walked when the lead witness was found dead in a back alley before he could testify. I think these two are in the Yakuza, and _that's_ going to complicate things significantly."

"Well, the negaverse sure doesn't beat around the bush," Raye muttered. "Right to the Yakuza."

"They're powerful and well-hidden," Amy agreed. "So, we need to get on top of this as soon as we can." She tapped the keyboard to bring up a picture of an elderly, obese man getting out of a car. "It's difficult to be sure, of course, but general consensus is that this man is the head of the Yakuza around here. Craig Dillon."

"So we gotta take him out?" Lita asked.

"Jesus," Artemis gasped, looking at the picture. "_We_ have to take him out? What, is diabetes busy?"

"Don't underestimate him," Amy insisted. "You don't get to where he is in the Yakuza without being highly competent. And yes, it's possible we may end up needing to 'take him out', but we'll cross that bridge where we come to it. First, we need to figure out where and how the Yakuza operate in this city, they've managed to disguise even that much."

"Back at the orphanage, we used to talk about the laundromat down in the slums," Darien said. "More than a few of the orphans would hang out there a lot, and they all ended up joining the Yakuza. We all figured it was some sort of recruiting base."

"They have drift races over at the shipping yard almost every night," Lita added. "I'm willing to bet there's some gokudo action happening down there."

"Right." Amy brought up another window on the middle screen. "This house right here was rumored to be some sort of yakuza safehouse two months ago, but the case was dropped under mysterious circumstances. So that's three decent leads." She jumped up. "So tonight, we will stake the locations out and see what we can learn. It should be a non-combat situation, as we will be doing recon-only for now, so I feel comfortable with going out into the field and leaving the computer to Luna and Artemis. We'll wait for sundown, and then we'll have two agents to each location. Scope the area out beforehand so you can get a grip on vantage points."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Serena said enthusiastically.

"Alright." Amy cleared her throat. "Me and Lita will take the safehouse, Raye and Mina will take the shipping yard, and Serena and Darien will take the laundromat."

"WHAT?!" Serena screeched.

"You're kidding," Darien deadpanned.

"Listen, both of you," Amy said sternly. "When we started this, you both promised that you'd be willing to work together in the field. So, I am taking this relatively low-risk opportunity to give you two the chance to prove that."

"Amy, you can't!" Serena pleaded, coming up and grabbing Amy by the shoulders. "You can't do this to me!"

"Yes, Serena, I can. And I am. You promised you'd be willing to work with him, now I want you to prove it to me."

"Yeah but...I didn't think you'd...wait, what happened to me being leader and getting to make decisions?" Serena asked, frowning.

"Yes, Serena, that is true," Amy said patiently. "Are you trying to pull rank on me?"

"Uh...well, I don't want to, but you...kind of leave me no choice?" Serena leaned away from Amy, filled with the familiar sense of dread that she was five steps ahead of her already.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Very well, Serena, then I am calling in your agreement to submit to any punishment I deemed fit a few days ago."

"You said that that wouldn't be necessary!" Serena whined.

"I changed my mind," Amy said. "You may think of this as your punishment."

"What'd she do?" Darien asked.

"None of your nosy beeswax!" Serena snapped, turning back to Amy. "And _anything_ but this, Amy, please!" She fell to her knees, crumpled to the floor and grabbed Amy's ankles. "I'm begging you, anything but this! I'll clean the whole warehouse with my tongue, I'll swear off video games for a year, I'll go on a diet for the entire summer, anything but this!"

"Serena, get up. This is my recommendation as lead strategist. If you choose to ignore it, then I can't make you do it, but given all of the circumstances, which I know you don't want me to recite in full, I don't think you want to be doing that." Amy crossed her arms over her chest.

Serena didn't get up, looking up at Amy with puppy dog eyes and whimpering pathetically.

"Serena, this is my decision and it is final, now get off the floor." Amy walked out of her grasp.

"Holy crap, Amy," Mina muttered in awe. "You're evil!"

"Even I wouldn't do this to her," Raye agreed.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," Lita said.

"I am not doing this to hurt Serena, I am doing this to affirm stability within the group." Amy said simply. Serena slowly got to her feet, sulking heavily. "And Darien, same applies for you, you also need to prove you can work with her."

Darien glanced at Serena, then shrugged. "Fine. Whatever."

"Thank you," Amy said.

"Doesn't matter," Darien said as Serena slowly walked over towards the kitchenette. "I'm more than capable of performing recon, even with a mentally-handicapped bunny rabbit for a partner." He pointed at Serena's back. "But if you find a way to screw this up, then they'll never find your body!"

Serena opened the freezer door and pulled out a pint of chocolate ice cream. She ripped the top off, picked up an ice cream scoop, and proceeded to start eating the ice cream straight from the container.

"And Amy, if she _does_ screw this up, I will blame you as well," Darien said, turning back to Amy. "And you don't want that."

"She won't screw it up," Amy assured him. "Whatever you think of her, her success rate in the field has been quite high."

"I'll go get some things and get ready." Darien turned towards the door and started heading out. "I'll be back for briefing at five. We leave at six, Serena, and if you're one second late I'll leave without you and handle the recon by myself."

"She won't be late," Amy said, turning to look at Serena. "Will she?"

Serena made some sort of little squealing noise, scooping large amounts of ice cream into her mouth.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Darien pushed the tarp to the side and opened the door, stepping onto the threshold. "Oh, and Serena?"

Serena didn't respond, head turned the other way, stabbing violent gouges into the ice cream.

"Serena?"

Serena stabbed the scoop down into the ice cream and released it, putting her hands at her sides and closing her eyes.

"Serena."

Serena scowled, hands curling into little fists.

"SERENA!"

"WHAT?!" she snarled loudly, spinning around to glare at Darien, nostrils flaring.

Darien grinned. "_Danger zone._" He ducked out of the room, slamming the door shut loudly.

"Okay, there is literally no room for alternate interpretation here," Mina said, eagerly approaching Serena. "That guy _likes_ you! Don't tell me you can't see it!"

"Mina—"

"You don't even have to be an expert like me to see it, Serena!" Mina enthused. "He's just as crazy about you as you are about him, he just expresses it like a second grader! You know, pulling on the pigtails, untying your shoelaces..."

"Mina—"

"So really, tonight is more like a _date_ than anything else, so you should probably—"

Serena wrenched the ice cream scoop out of the container, grabbing Mina by the collar and pulling her forward. She wielded the scoop in her right hand dangerously. "One more word, Mina. One more word. And I will gouge your eyeballs out with this." She leaned in close, until their noses were almost touching. "Look into my eyes, Mina. _Tell_ me I'm joking. I dare you."

Mina silently put her hands up by her head in surrender, Serena slowly releasing her.

"

**164th and Cutler, June 15th, 6:42 PM**

"I swear to God, if anyone sees me in here..." Serena growled. She was seated in the passenger side seat of Darien's car, leaning as far away from Darien as possible.

"What, you make a lot of friends in the slums?" Darien asked sarcastically.

Serena looked up at the passenger side window. "Although...I guess they couldn't see me in here with this illegal-ass window tint."

"I don't have any window tint," Darien said through gritted teeth.

"Please." Serena rolled her eyes. "Pretty sure it comes standard on the rapemobile."

"Hey, you know, that's really not funny!" Darien twisted his head to look at her.

"Well, Darien, humor is in the eye of the beholder—"

"No, I'm serious!" Darien angrily turned back to the road, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "I don't care if you think I'm an asshole, I don't care if you call me an asshole, but I would _never_, _ever_ actually...do that. _Ever_."

Serena glanced down at the mat beneath her feet, chewing her lower lip.

"You _really_ shouldn't say things like that, okay? Not that it's...any of my business, but, yeah."

"Okay," Serena said moodily. "You're...right, I shouldn't say that kind of stuff. I'm sorry."

"You really need to learn to think before you talk," Darien continued, turning off onto a side street. "You end up...saying a lot of awful things if you don't."

"Oh, yeah, call the kettle black," Serena said dryly. "Oh, and as a follow-up to our conversation this morning, if you really want to try to beat me at the game of life, you're lagging behind."

"What are you talking about?" Darien said through a series of small laughs. "I pulled a 3.98 in my first year at university, and that was _with_ all the blackouts! The government can't be throwing grant money at me fast enough! You just _barely_ got through junior high!"

"Yeah, but I've got more money than you!" Serena taunted.

"Wrong," Darien retorted. "The operations account is not yours."

Serena reached down into her purse and whipped out the white thin piece of plastic. "Oh, lookie here! Hello, Mister debit card, hope we're feeling good today! Like, say...ten thousand bucks kind of good?"

Darien glanced over at the card. "Wait, that's why Amy made those side accounts?" He looked back at the road. "She's not as smart as I thought."

"Well, it just so happens that Amy trusts me," Serena said haughtily.

"Wow. Not even close to as smart as I thought," Darien grunted.

"She trusts me because she's my friend." Serena reached over and grabbed her bottle of water, taking a sip out of it.

"You may recall that Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot were friends as well." Darien chuckled.

"I don't expect you to understand," Serena snarked. "Because you don't have any friends."

"I have friends!" Darien snapped. "You don't know me!"

"Oh, yeah. _A _friend." Serena rolled her eyes. "Don't know why Andrew lets you hang around. I mean, do you have a sex tape of him cheating on Rita or something?"

"I am _incredibly _close to stopping the car, pushing you out onto the sidewalk, and doing this mission by myself. Would probably be easier anyway." Darien tapped the brake for a stop sign.

"You'd probably get lost without me," Serena countered. "You'd be crying in the fetal position within twenty minutes."

"I could probably destroy the entire negaverse singlehandedly. In a day." Darien accelerated.

"Yeah, Darien, because you're just sooooo amazing," Serena said sarcastically. "You're so good, you have to rely on a group of teenage girls to hold your hand through everything."

"And you should be really grateful I'm on your side!" he snapped. "Because I'm the best at this stuff! I'm like—"

"Like who?!" Serena interrupted. "Batman?!"

Darien paused for a second. "I...don't like to invite that comparison, but...yes, basically."

Serena rolled her eyes. " Whatever. Oh, and also, we only have that money because of _me_."

"Oh, yeah, thank you, almighty benefactor," Darien deadpanned. "Your 401k doing that good?"

"For your information, Darien, I received that money as a reward for saving the life of Daniel Tillerson!" Serena gave a proud little smirk.

Darien fell silent, forehead wrinkled in thought. "Uh...wait, Tillerson as in—"

"Son of Rex Tillerson, head of ExxonMobil, yes." Serena nodded.

"Seriously?" Darien raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yup," she said, looking him in the eye.

Darien fell silent at this, turning back to the road, cogs in his head turning as he tried to come up with a proper response. His wit failed him, leaving with only the basest of retorts.

"Whatever." Darien pulled out onto a main drag. "Okay, let's...try to be cool about this. Laundromat is to your right, coming up here."

Serena turned her head as a small structure came into view.

"See anything down the side alley?"

"Yeah, there's a back entrance," Serena reported. "Next to a dumpster. That's it."

"Alright." Darien pulled into a parking lot across the street. "I'm gonna go have a look around. It's still daylight, and this place doesn't 'close' until seven, so I doubt there's anyone of interest here yet."

"They close at seven?" Serena looked over at the building as Darien parked. "Weird."

"More like suspicious. I'll scope it out real quick, you just stay here." He turned the car off. "I'll be back before seven." He grabbed the door handle, but paused and turned back to Serena. "Seriously, what did you do to make Amy punish you?"

Serena scoffed. "I put hemlock in your stupid V8 bottles."

"Well, I hope you used a lot. Recommended doses have no effect on Darien Shields." He smirked.

"Just go!" Serena demanded. Darien pushed the door open and departed. Serena leaned back in the chair for a minute, then tapped her ear.

"Moon checking in, we are in position, across the street from the stakeout target. Mask is moving in to scope the location before nightfall, nothing of note to report so far," she said slowly.

"Copy," Luna replied. Serena tapped her ear again, then closed her eyes. Her mind went back to years-old conversations with her father, dozens of them at various points in her life, warnings of staying away from the Yakuza at all costs, and tales of what they did to teenage girls. In no time at all, Darien was pulling the driver side door open and sitting back down.

"Okay, there's just the one back entrance...the inside is pretty typical, functional laundromat. We should get a nice view of both entrances from the parking garage to our left here, should serve it's purpose...let's just wait here until it gets dark, I guess." He reached down into the side pocket on his door, pulling out a tic-tac jar, and handing it to Serena. "You're gonna want this."

Serena took it. "Why?"

"Well, if I'm wrong, and there are already Yakuza in there, they might see us sitting here and get suspicious. So, if they come here to check us out, if action movies have taught me anything, it's that we'll have to start making out to get them to go away."

Serena stared at the bottle for a second, then handed it back to Darien. "I'd rather get kidnapped by the Yakuza," she said dryly.

"Do you have any idea what they do to teenage girls?" Darien asked.

"Yes. I stand by my original statement." She dropped the bottle in his lap.

Darien closed his eyes, willing himself to remain calm. "Are you going to be a bitch the whole time?"

"Yes."

Darien gave a little grunt of annoyance. "That was rhetorical." He thought about stopping there, but couldn't quite help himself. "You know something? You have absolutely no reason to be such a brat." He leaned back in his chair.

"Oh, yeah, please, go on, you know so much about me, you're definitely qualified to make that statement." Serena glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"I know enough. You have no idea how easy you have it," he said darkly, eyes still closed.

Serena sat up, turning to look at him. "Excuse _you_? Easy?"

"Yeah, Serena, you do." Darien sat up, opening his eyes to glare at her.

"Okay." She pointed at him. "First of all, you're eighteen, so why you're suddenly morphing into a seventy-year-old man, yelling at me to get off your lawn, I don't have a clue. Second of all, let me tell you something, buster. Eight months ago, a talking cat strolled into my bedroom and told me 'hey, I know you didn't sign up for anything, but you're actually a superheroine who has been tasked by cosmic forces to defend the planet from evil entities, and if you fail, everyone dies!' Since that day, every single day, I have spent most of my free time either acting as Sailor Moon, or preparing to act as Sailor Moon, knowing that a single failure will probably result in the end of the human race! So, please, tell me again how easy I have it!"

"Well, for starters, I'm in the same boat as you—"

"No, you're not!" Serena interrupted. "You are here voluntarily. You chose to join us, nobody made you. You are doing this because you want to!"

"And you're not?" Darien questioned. "What stops you from just going home right now, getting to sleep, and letting Amy handle this world-saving business?"

Serena looked away, glancing out at the laundromat, then sighed. "The first day I found out I was Sailor Moon, you know what happened? The negaverse took over a jewelry store, owned by the mother of my friend, Molly Baker. If I didn't go, Molly would have died. From the moment this started, the negaverse has threatened people that I care about, a lot. And every single time I think about just...throwing my tiara in a trash can and letting someone else worry about this, I have to think about everyone I care about being wiped from existence because I gave up. Believe me, Darien, I've thought about just...throwing the towel in. Some days, it sounds great. But it's never an option for me, because I couldn't live with myself if I did. I don't expect you to understand, again, but I _don't _have a choice."

Darien swallowed, turning his gaze back out the windshield. "Okay. Maybe. But you know something?" He sighed. "When you're done fighting the negaverse at the end of the day, you get to go _home_."

Serena blinked a couple times, then raised an eyebrow. "Okay? What does that mean? I mean, I know your apartment is crappy, but you're not homeless, so—"

"No, I mean _home_, Serena." Darien turned to look in the wing mirror.

Serena squinted. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean home. With your family." Darien closed his eyes again. "Parents, maybe a sibling or two, two car garage, backyard, white picket fence, two stories. You know. Home?"

"Uhhh..." Serena's face blanked, staring at Darien uneasily.

"Maybe you struggle fighting for the survival of your loved ones, Serena. But at least you can go home to them when you're done! Home to a father, who works overtime so he can buy you your comic books and put you through college one day! Home to a mother, who once upon a time might have dreamed of becoming a famous singer or actress, but threw that away to stay home and raise you! Home to a brother, or sister, who maybe you don't always get along with, but you still love each other! People who support you through every success and failure, Serena!" Darien's tone kept getting harsher and more emotional, words picking up speed.

Serena had no quick reply, mouth going dry. She awkwardly glanced out the windshield, wishing that there was someone else here.

"Yeah, Serena, maybe you can't possibly comprehend not having that, but for your information, some people don't, so—"

"Darien?"

He caught himself, eyes popping open, then rotating around furtively, the slightest tinge of red popping up in his cheeks.

"Uh...Darien?" Serena said uneasily. "Are...you okay?"

He roughly sat back up, grabbing the key and igniting the engine. "Yeah. Nevermind, just...forget it."

Serena's eyes darted about, trying and failing to find something to turn the conversation to.

"I'll move the car into the parking garage now, may as well," Darien mumbled, backing the car out. "Seatbelt."

Serena glanced down, then quickly grabbed the strap and secured the belt. "So—"

"Shut up," Darien said, puttering the car out towards the street.

"

**152th and Marshall, June 15th, 8:36 PM**

Serena slowly played her fingers across the screen of her phone, unable to stop herself from looking over at Darien every few seconds. The two had sat there in stony silence for the last hour and a half, waiting out the final flickers of the evening sun.

"Almost dark," Serena said quietly.

"Yup," Darien replied quickly.

"Darien?"

Silence hung in the air for a moment before he finally answered.

"What?" he finally prompted, no shortage of annoyance in his voice.

"Are...are you still mad at me for—"

"Yes," he replied, arms still locked over his chest.

Serena gave a little grumble. "Well, let me finish, ass!"

"I don't see why it matters why I'm mad at you. I kinda always am," Darien scowled. "I don't even need a reason at this point."

"Shut up!" she snapped, but then quickly caught herself. "Are you still mad at me for...what I said about your mother?"

Darien glanced about, chewing on his cheek. "No. I don't care. I never did. Thought I made that pretty clear."

"I'm sorry," Serena said. "I regret saying it. I really do, and I apologize."

"I heard you the first time you said it," Darien grunted. "Uh...apology accepted, whatever." He raised his right hand up towards Serena's face, fluttering his fingers back and forth. "You're absolved."

Serena sighed, looking down mournfully at the ground. "And I'm sorry that...your parents, y'know...yeah."

Darien shrugged. "Why? You didn't kill them."

"Look, I...I'm never going to like you—"

"Feeling is mutual," Darien quickly retorted.

"...right, but...we're all God's creatures, and...we all deserve to get the chance to be raised by good parents. And if you were deprived that, then...even if I can't stand you, then you do have my sympathies," she said quickly, biting her lower lip when she was done.

Darien gave a little dismissive breath. "Doesn't matter. Birth parents, foster parents, orphanage employees, all the same at the end of the day." He was silent for several seconds, Serena waiting for him to follow up, part of her hoping he would. "There's a candy bar in the glove box."

"What?"

"I said there's a candy bar in the glove box." He pointed at the compartment in front of Serena.

Serena looked at the latch to the box for a second, then up to Darien. "Do...you want me to have it—"

"No, I was just informing you of that fact! Yes, you can have it!" Darien hissed.

Serena reached forward, popping the compartment open and removing a brown hersey's bar wrapper from it.

"Is this your way of saying thank you?" Serena asked.

"No, it's my way of making sure your stomach doesn't growl like a sarlacc later and give away our position," he replied.

Serena's shoulders sagged in annoyance. "God, you're such a prick."

Darien reached over and popped the driver side door open. "It's almost dark. I'll go scout out the area real quick, then we'll set up."

**152th and Marshall, June 15th, 8:57 PM**

Serena and Darien stood at the stone ledge of the parking garage top level, both holding small spyglasses. Darien had his pointed at the front entrance, Serena at the back entrance, both of them with index fingers poised on little buttons on top of the scope. They were kneeled down, getting as low as possible while maintaining their view of the entrances.

"Try to get their faces," Darien whispered. "And it's better to have too many photos instead of not enough."

"I know," Serena replied. Nobody had shown up yet, rows of people below walking past the laundromat and showing no interest in it. Serena thought for a moment, then cleared her throat. "I...I assume you can't...go home to your foster parents?"

"That'd be kind of awkward," Darien said quietly. "I was there three months before I got sent back to the orphanage."

"Oh. W-what happened?" Serena set her spyglass down on the ledge, steadying her aim at the back entrance.

Darien pondered his response for a minute. "The state found out they were alcoholics and deemed them unfit for foster parenting."

Serena gave a little glum frown. "That's...that's too bad. I'm sorry." She paused, carefully considering her words. "Did...did they...you know..."

"Did they what?" Darien glanced over to her, then back to the scope.

"Were they...abusive?" She pursed her lips.

"No." Darien gave a little smile. "That's the funny part...I thought they were alright." A half-dozen teenagers entered the laundromat through the front, Darien snapping a series of quick pictures as they went in. "They weren't gonna win any awards, but they were a solid five out of ten. But nobody gave a shit what I thought, so back to the orphanage I went."

"Well...I'm sorry."

"God, broken record with you tonight," Darien whispered, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, fine! I'm _not_ sorry!" she hissed. Two short men came down the back alley, Serena snapping pictures as they meandered into the back entrance.

"You get their faces?" Darien asked.

"Yeah," she replied, face softening again. "It was...tough, living at an orphanage?"

"Same difference," Darien said dismissively. "People work there, they're like your parents, and you have a lot of siblings. It's basically the same thing."

"That's...that's not what you said earlier tonight," Serena reminded him as he took a few more photos as a pair of men entered through the front.

"Well, forget what I said earlier tonight, I...forget it, okay? I'm under a lot of stress, I'm currently dealing with my three biggest fears."

Serena looked over at him. "What are your three biggest fears?"

"No," he said sternly.

"Come on..." she whispered.

"Nooooope." Another teenager entered through the front, prompting him to take a few more pictures.

"If I guess them, will you tell me?" she asked, snapping pictures of a trio of men and a woman entering through the back.

"Noooooooooope," he replied.

"Okay...whatever." She wiped the tip of the spyglass off with her sleeve. "But seriously. You're right, you have had a rough time of it, and...I can't comprehend some of the things you've had to deal with in your life. I don't like you, but...you do deserve...better."

Darien was silent for several seconds, both of them watching the laundromat intently.

"Yeah," he finally said, quietly.

Serena waited for him to keep going, surprisingly hopeful that he'd have something else to say. But the silence just hung, leaving her to make an angry grimace before turning her focus back to the mission. A few more people came up through the alley, so she took several pictures.

"Did you get their faces?" Darien asked.

"One of them never turned around. I got the other two," she replied tersely.

"Good."

Serena glanced around the parking garage for a moment.

"What are your three biggest fears?"

"Getting put on a recon mission with you three times."

She gave a little rattled sigh.

"

**152th and Marshall, June 15th, 11:30 PM**

"Alright, we should probably get out of here," Darien said, putting the scope in his jacket pocket after retracting it. Serena did the same. "I'll...drive you home."

"Not necessary," she replied. "I'll take the bus." She started towards the staircase in the far corner.

"The buses stopped running half an hour ago," Darien reminded her.

"Then I'll walk," she said, not turning back around.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, pulling his keychain out of his pants pocket and pressing a button on the remote. His car beeped and the doors unlocked. "Get in."

Serena stopped walking, frowning to herself as she glanced about.

"Serena. Now." Darien walked over to his car, popping the driver side door open. Finally, Serena went over and joined him on the passenger side.

"Seriously, Serena, use your head," he said, starting the engine and backing out. "We've spent all evening spying on Yakuza members, and you're going to walk across town by yourself at night? That's how you win a Darwin award, you're basically asking for it."

"God, you sound like my father," she sulked. "Telling me ghost stories, trying to scare me away from staying out late at night...the Yakuza isn't nearly as dangerous as parents would have their children believe, you know."

"Oh, really?!" Darien growled, guiding the car down a ramp. "This year, so far, in this region alone, seventy-eight unsolved kidnapping cases, thirty-nine of them teenagers!"

"Eh?" Serena looked at Darien.

"Last year, one hundred and fifty eight unsolved kidnapping cases, ninety-nine of them teenagers! Year before that, one hundred and seventy-two unsolved kidnapping cases, one hundred and ten of them teenagers!"

"Darien?"

"Year before that, one hundred and thirty-nine unsolved kidnapping cases, ninety-four of them them teenagers!" he continued angrily.

"Darien."

"Year before that, two hundred and four unsolved kidnapping cases, eighty six of them teenagers! Year before that—"

"DARIEN!" Serena yelled. Darien finally stopped himself, looking at her stonily. He reshifted his focus back to the windshield, moving back down to ground level. He pulled out of the exit, preparing to rejoin traffic.

"What are your three biggest fears?"

Darien sighed deeply, pulling out onto the road. "The Yakuza, number one."

"So you've...memorized all the data for the kidnappings in this area that they're probably responsible for?" Serena bit her lower lip.

"Yes."

"Wow." Serena glanced down at her feet. "Okay...number two?"

Darien glanced about as he accelerated. "Parking garages."

"What?" Serena deadpanned.

"You couldn't ask for a better location to get assaulted or kidnapped!" Darien insisted. "It's covered, security camera coverage is spotty to non-existent...yeah, it's like a horror movie in those things! Not to mention...homeless people are always peeing in the corners."

Serena couldn't help but give a small laugh. "You know, not even sure if I want to know what number three—"

"Spontaneous human combustion," he replied.

Serena blinked dully for a few seconds. "What?"

"You heard me," he answered.

"What the hell did tonight have to do with spontaneous human combustion?" she asked slowly.

"Nothing. That's why it's terrifying. Spontaneous human combustion can happen at any time, for no reason!" Darien braked for a red light.

"Jesus Christ," Serena said. "You...okay..."

"So...there," he said thickly. He put his blinker on. "What are your biggest fears?"

"Nope," she said quickly, smirking to herself.

"Come on, I told you mine," he goaded.

"I know." She pointed her thumb at herself. "I win."

"Okay, fine, be that way," he said, punching the gas. "I'll tell you one thing, number one for you _should_ be the danger zone. Clearly, you have no idea just how deep you are in it."

"My God, are you trying to fill your asshole quota before midnight or something?" Serena asked dryly.

"

**Tsukino Residence, June 15th, 11:53 PM**

"You gonna get in trouble?" Darien asked as Serena jumped out of the passenger side door.

"Dad extended my curfew to midnight," Serena answered. "Reward for passing junior high."

"Probably didn't think you'd be spending your time in the less desirable part of town," Darien pointed out, reaching down to shift the car out of park.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." She turned around, grabbing the edge of the car door. "Drive safe."

"Night."

Serena slammed the door shut and Darien slowly accelerated down the street. Serena watched it disappear into the night, eyebrow raised in confusion.

She chewed on her inside cheek as the car disappeared over a hill, glancing around.

"Douche," she muttered to herself before heading up the concrete path to the front door.


	17. Classic Misdirection

Chapter 17: Classic Misdirection

"

**Headquarters, June 16th, 9:03 AM**

"Wait, why does it matter who hangs up first?" Amy asked, left index finger pressed to her ear. She glanced around the warehouse, nobody around except her. "I mean, unless you have a really old phone, it won't make a difference."

She grabbed a red thumbtack from a small container on the desk and pressed it carefully into the map, marking a position down on the southwest.

"Okay, but...I really don't get the point," Amy said tenatively. "Uh...you hang up first." She paused, listening to the earpiece. "Wait, now I say it again?" She pressed a green thumbtack a few inches above the red one. "Well, how many times do I say it?" She turned away from the map, looking around the warehouse. "Well, there has to be a number, or else we just keep doing it forever!"

She adjusted the headset's earpiece slightly, pushing it deeper in her ear.

"Okay...okay, fine." She glanced around awkwardly. "No, you hang up first." She glanced at one of the computer screens, then pressed another red tack into the map. "No, you hang up first." She grabbed a small pen from her chest pocket and made a small check mark right next to one of the thumbtacks. "No, you hang up first."

She heard the door open from behind the tarp and jumped, quickly putting her left index finger up to the earpiece. "Okaynoproblembye!" she yelped before terminating the connection, quickly yanking the earpiece from her ear and slipping it into her pocket.

Serena and Mina entered the warehouse, Amy grateful that they were preoccupied in conversation.

"Come on Serena, just say it and get it over with," Mina teased, leaning in towards her fellow blonde. "You ended up enjoying last night, I can tell!"

"Did my ice cream scoop threat pass through one of your ears and out the other, Mina?" Serena said flatly.

"Hey, if you really hated hanging out with Darien last night, you would have showed up here all pouty, stomping around like a toddler and berating Amy for making you do it! But you didn't, so just admit it or I'll keep making fun of you for it!" Mina poked her in the ribs.

Serena stopped walking, fuming. "It...could have been worse," she admitted with great effort.

"I knew you were a lot of things, Amy, but I never knew you were a matchmaker!" Mina called out, looking over as Amy kept marking the map with thumbtacks.

Raye picked that moment to sweep in through the tarp, quickly striding over to the couches, past Serena and Mina without so much as a glance.

"Look, we...exchanged some...semi-meaningful dialogue last night, and...maybe my perspective has changed slightly. But only slightly!" Serena's eyes narrowed. "So you're gonna wanna zip it, immediately! Now, today is a day for business, so game face!" She pointed at Mina's face.

"Uh-huh," Mina said, looking over at Raye, who was hunched over on one of the couches. "Morning Raye."

"Hey," she replied quietly, not turning to look at her.

"You...you okay?" Mina asked cautiously, approaching her.

"Yeah, I'm fine...just thinking," Raye answered. Mina looked over her shoulder to see she was holding a brochure, reading it intently.

"What you got there?" Mina asked. Serena walked up with her as well, trying to read the small text from a distance.

Raye closed the brochure and raised the front side up towards the two, revealing an orange logo of what appeared to be an artistically rendered eyeball.

"Lasik," she explained. "I mean...I've just been thinking about it, but..."

"Oh," Serena said, coming around and sitting down on the couch. "For...for your grandpa?"

"Yeah." Raye pursed her lips. "Ever since Amy gave me that card, I kinda started thinking about it, so I thought I'd look into it. I mean, he really, really doesn't like wearing glasses, so I think he'd like it."

"That's really thoughtful," Mina said, patting her on the back.

"Yeah, but...is it stupid?" Raye propped her elbows on her knees, supporting her chin with her palms.

"Of course not!" Mina insisted. "What makes it stupid?"

"Well...it's pretty expensive. Three grand, maybe three and a half. I mean, I could probably put together a story to justify me having that money, but...it's a lot of money. And...I don't know, I just kind of feel like I'm trying to...fight father time, or something."

"Hey. You love your grandpa, and you want the best for him. Nothing stupid about that," Serena said assuredly.

"I mean, it's very idealistic...but he's a seventy-five year old man. I mean, old people have bad eyes, they're _supposed_ to wear glasses, that's just part of the package. Maybe he's...in denial about his age, which is why he doesn't wanna wear them. And if I'm actually going to spend thirty-five hundred dollars to temporarily improve the eyesight of a senior citizen...am I just as much in denial?" Raye bit her lower lip, looking down at the brochure. "I'd be slightly improving the quality of life of someone who...well, frankly...is on borrowed time."

"Hey, Raye, listen to me," Serena said, pointing at her. "Your grandpa raised you. In practice, he's basically your father. Now, I have a father, and I know it's not the same thing because of the age difference. But I know that if I thought there was anything I could do to make his life easier, or make him happier, then I wouldn't care if he was thirty-five, or a hundred and thirty-five. I would spare no expense. Because that's what you do for family. So, you should never feel like you should have to apologize, or feel stupid, if you want to try to help your grandpa."

Raye reached over and patted her knee. "Thank you, Serena. I'll...I'll keep thinking about it."

The door clicked open again, this time Darien and Lita sweeping through the tarp and looking around.

"Alright, people, let's look lively!" Darien called out loudly, walking over towards Amy and the wall map. "We're going to war, and we're going to be paving the streets in Yakuza scalps!"

"You're in a good mood," Amy said, looking at Darien. Mina shot Serena a naughty smirk, Serena ignoring it to the best of her abilities.

"Don't get used to it," Darien said, looking at the map. "It just so happens that few things get my motor running better than the thought of driving the Yakuza out of town once and for all. Plus, this whole thing is suspiciously similar to the plot of one of the most kickass movies ever made, The Untouchables. So, to that end, let me paraphrase the wisdom of Sean Connery. If you want to get the Yakuza, then you go all the way! They pull a knife, you pull a gun! They send one of us to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue! That's how you get these guys!"

"This is gonna be something else," Mina mused, jumping up and going over to Amy and Darien. "I was thinking about it last night, this is really a whole new level from the negaverse. I mean, fighting us, destroying the city, that was all pretty intense, but now they're actually out there, trying to get the biggest organized crime syndicate there is to get to us by basically starting World War Two."

"Uh...three, honey," Lita said, looking over at Mina. "World War Three."

"It's not a competition, Lita!" Mina snapped.

"Guys." Serena slowly stood up and turned towards the gang. "What if...there was another way?"

"Another way for what?" Amy asked.

"Well, based off what we know so far, it seems like the two groups have just started talking to each other. I mean, we haven't been able to detect any further meetings between the two yet, so it's probably just that one so far. Maybe it's not too late to...convince the Yakuza that it's not worth it, to make a deal with the negaverse and go to war with us." Serena stopped in front of the map, looking at it.

"I'm listening, Serena. Go ahead," Amy said.

"I was thinking about it last night, and...guys, I...I don't want to fight the Yakuza." Serena hung her head slightly.

"Aw, Serena...I know it's scary, but I think we can—" Lita started.

"No, not that." Serena grimaced. "I...I don't want to kill anyone. I don't want to kill people."

Lita cocked an eyebrow. "Serena, these are Yakuza we're talking about here. Pretty bottom of the barrel when it comes to the human race. Seriously, human slavery, kidnapping, racketeering, blackmail, everything under the sun. We'd be doing the world a favor."

"I don't care," Serena replied. "I mean, the negaverse monsters...that's easy, most of those are better defined as physical embodiments of evil, I don't feel anything when I take them out, but...this is different. I don't care how terrible they are, I don't want to kill them. So, I had an idea."

"Let's hear it," Raye said, finally coming up to join the others.

"Well, and stop me if this sounds stupid, Amy, we pick a target. Some...high-value target, an important safehouse. Lita, you knock out their power, cause some fireworks to get them to evacuate. Then we comb it real quick to make sure everyone's out, and then Raye burns it to the ground. Amy, you can stand by and wait, make sure the fire doesn't spread to anywhere else. Maybe the plan needs some tweaking, but ultimately, I want to send a message. By destroying a high-value target, we cost them millions, and maybe we can use that to convince them of what we're capable of. Convince them that it won't be worth it. Maybe even convince them to just abandon the city."

"That...that actually makes a lot of sense, Serena." Amy nodded. "Of course, it could also infuriate them and provoke them into wanting to side with the negaverse even more to get revenge."

Serena kept on staring at the map. "Which will almost definitely happen if we do nothing, so we have nothing to lose. We might have to do it more than once to get our point across, but...I want to at least try."

"Okay, Serena." Amy patted her on the shoulder. "We'll do that." She looked over at Darien. "Sorry to disappoint you."

Darien shrugged.

"Well, using the photographs we all took yesterday, I was able to connect the dots and find more probable hotspots. We'll keep working on recon for a couple days, make sure we pick a good target. And, when we're sure we have the right one, we'll move on Serena's plan." Amy clapped her hands together a few times.

"

**Arcade, June 20th, 2:03 PM**

Serena raised a twenty dollar bill up in the air over her shoulder, thrusting it at Andrew. "Alright, A-Dog, I don't want to see a single one of these fry tubs empty for the rest of this afternoon, got it?!"

Andrew took the bill. "Yeah. Never call me that again." Serena and seven of her school friends were lined up in front of a row of arcade machines, baskets of food set out on the little tables in front of the screens.

"Also, remember, I am paying for this entire row, so if you need more cash, you know who to talk to!" she reminded him.

"So when did you win the lottery?" Molly asked, pulling a quarter out of a plastic bag next to her food basket.

"I got a healthy bonus on my allowance from my father," Serena lied. "Three hundred dollars. He was really excited I scraped that B minus in math."

"Well, here's to lowered parental expectations!" Molly said, raising her milkshake glass up in the air. Serena grabbed hers and lightly tapped the two cups together.

"Damn right!" she concurred.

"Why am I not surprised?"

Serena's shoulders fell and she slowly spun around in her chair. Sure enough, Darien was standing there, hands on his hips and a grin on his face.

"Some people just can't handle a little windfall of cash," Darien said, looking the row of girls up and down. "Not that it's any surprise you're part of that group."

"And you were _soooooo_ close to being demoted from King Douchebag to Prince Douchebag," Serena grumbled, eyes narrowing into slits, pushing herself off the stool.

"Hey, it's your fault you actually thought I could be nice to you for any more than five minutes at a time," Darien replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Come on, you're you." He leaned in close to her face, covering his mouth with his hand. "Amy really isn't nearly as smart as I thought."

Serena slowly pointed over into the corner of the arcade, then marched over towards it. Darien followed casually. When she got into the corner, she spun around and glared up at him.

"Few things," she whispered harshly. "First of all, I have a cover story, that is well-conceived and bulletproof, so yes I did think of that! Second of all, I am using my money to spend time with and do nice things for my friends, something you will _never_ be able to comprehend, so don't bother trying! Third of all, as I said before, Amy gave me that money to be mine, and I can do whatever I want with it, so shove it!"

Darien chuckled. "Oh, you can do whatever you want with it?!"

"Yes!" Serena insisted, scowling.

"Alright, Glenda Gotrocks, prove it!" He turned around and walked towards the door of the arcade, beckoning her to follow him. "Follow me, and we'll see about that!"

Serena couldn't stop herself, marching after him, following him out onto the sidewalk.

"What, are you working as a male prostitute right now?" Serena asked dryly. "Because you would literally have to pay _me_."

"

**Arnold's Electronics, June 20th, 2:13 PM**

Darien and Serena looked at the large television, mounted on a stand on a small table, currently displaying high definition footage of a baseball game. There were several small slips of paper on the table underneath it, with a sign that broke down the specific details of the television hanging from the front.

"So, Serena, if it's your money, then you won't have any problems taking one of these bad boys home, right?!" he asked, pointing at the television.

Serena glared at it silently, then over to him. The scowl was frozen on her face, little fists at her sides shaking.

"All you have to do is fill out one of those slips," Darien continued, pointing at the pile of paper. "Then, you take it up front, and all sixty-five high definition inches are yours! It's discounted right now, and if you pay in cash you can get it for twelve hundred bucks, out the door!" He grabbed a pen from the table and put it in front of her face mockingly. "That shouldn't be a problem for you, should it? I'll even drive it home for you! Hell, I'll drive you to the bank so you can withdraw the money! All you have to do is fill it out!"

Serena reached up and grabbed the pen from Darien's hand roughly. "FINE! I WILL!" she shrieked. She marched over to the table, put one of the slips in front of her, and pressed the tip of the pen to one of the blank form sections.

She froze as the tip touched, face strained, pressing an ink dot into the paper. She glanced at the television, then back to Darien.

"Take your time, I'm hourly!" he taunted.

Serena closed her eyes, visions of angry parents, angry fellow Sailor Scouts, and police questioning dancing in front of her.

"What's the hold up?" Darien said, spreading his hands to his sides. "Don't you remember your own address?"

With tremendous effort, Serena set the pen back down on the table, stiffly spinning towards the exit, and striding away from the television.

"That's what I thought!" Darien called at her back as he followed her out.

"

**Arcade, June 20th, 2:20 PM**

"You know, I was actually trying to be nice to you!" Serena said through gritted teeth as she walked through the automatic doors at the front of the arcade.

"Yeah, well, whose fault is that?" he asked rhetorically, following her in as she went back over to her game station. She sat back down heavily, resuming playing the game with no shortage of particularly violent yanks and pulls on the joystick.

"Serena?" Andrew leaned down to look at her face, seeing the lethal scowl frozen on it. He looked up at Darien. "You were only gone for like fifteen minutes!"

"Yeah, I work quickly," Darien said proudly.

Andrew couldn't hold back a couple small laughs. "Wow, you are like...the Alpha and Omega asshole." He walked over back towards the counter, Darien following. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I just...gave her a nice dose of reality, that's all." Darien sat down on one of the barstools as Andrew went to the other side of the counter.

"God. What a colossal dick," Andrew muttered quietly, although he couldn't quite stop laughing.

Darien pointed at Andrew. "Yeah, said your mom." He made a fist and pumped it back towards him. "BOOM!"

"DAMMIT!" Andrew groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

Darien chuckled a couple times, pulling a few dollar bills from his pocket and putting it on the counter. "Chocolate."

Andrew leaned in closer to him, glancing at Serena. "Why you gotta be like that, huh?" He motioned his head in her direction. "She's just trying to enjoy summer."

Darien licked his lips a couple times, then glanced back at her. "Just...keeping her in her place."

"

**106th Street, June 21st, 9:59 PM**

"If the Yakuza lose this house, they'll lose millions of dollars worth of equipment," Amy reported through the earpiece. "Not to mention the safehouse itself. All told, it would be a highly catastrophic loss, so it's perfect. One last time. Jupiter, you're on in thirty seconds. Make it a spectacle."

"Copy," Lita answered.

"Moon, key your chestpiece once for every person you see evacuate the house, keep an eye on all the exits."

"Copy," Serena reported.

"Mask, Venus, at five minutes past, move in to comb the house and confirm it's been evacuated."

"Copy," Darien and Mina chorused. The two were ducked down in a large green bush, a couple houses away from the target.

"Mars, once we have confirmation from Mask and Venus, burn the house."

"Copy."

"I will make sure the fire doesn't spread." Amy cleared her throat. "Ten seconds."

The moment the clock struck ten, the brisk crackle of electricity filled the air, viciously attacking the black cable that trailed down towards the house and causing the overload of power to lance into the house. Violent little pops echoed down the dark street as every single lightbulb inside the house shattered, followed immediately by every electronic device that was plugged in frying and smoking under the intense stress.

Screams, panicked confusion, an unruly stampede of bodies frantically trying to figure out what just happened.

"So what did you do to her?" Mina asked, turning to look at Darien, tapping her chest to deactivate the microphone.

Darien similarly deactivated his. "Hm?"

"Her. She was moody all day, don't tell me you didn't notice," Mina replied. "And only one person can get her like that."

Even with every electronic in the house now nothing more than a crispy paperweight, Lita kept on pumping energy into it, creating a truly intimidating display of sparks piling out of every electrical outlet, culminating in them being ejected from their wall mounts at high speed and adding to the chaos.

"She's always like that," Darien replied simply.

"Darien, what did you do?" Mina demanded warningly.

Darien glanced about. "The other night, when we were on recon, I said some things I shouldn't have, and...I don't want her getting any ideas. So I just reminded her of the score between us, that's all."

A couple of short beeps sounded through their earpieces, as Serena started signalling people evacuating the house.

"So...you were nice to her on recon?" Mina asked, shooting Darien a dry look.

"Dangerously close to such, yes," Darien admitted. "And I can't have that, so...yeah."

"And that's how your brain works?" Mina said in dry disbelief. Serena kept on sending little pulses of audio to represent evacuating people.

"Hey, at least mine works," Darien retorted.

Mina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, let's go _there_." She shook her head. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

"This ridiculous outfit," Darien replied. "Which I have to wear when I go out, late at night, trying to save the world alongside a second-rate spice girls cover band! Which, really, is something wrong with the universe, not me, so...nothing, I guess."

"You know...one of these days, you're going to really regret being so mean to her."

"How?" Darien asked, barely refraining from laughing.

"Oh, that's how it always ends up," Mina said airily.

"This isn't a Disney Channel movie." Darien craned his head up slightly to have a look along the sidewalk.

"Everyone, please be advised," Amy announced through the speaker. "Based off Moon's information and assumptions about the current population of the house, I estimate somewhere between four and seven people remain inside. Jupiter, if you can amp it up, it's appreciated. It obviously won't matter that much if you start an electrical fire. Venus, Mask, two minutes. My visor's infared is being scrambled, so it's not reliable."

"I just hope I'm there when that day comes, because I will laugh in your face." Mina shook her head. "I never, ever thought I would say this, but...I think your douchebaggery actually outweighs your incredible abs."

"Me regretting being mean to people is not really something that ever happens. It's statistically unlikely," Darien said.

There was a short pause as the two counted down the seconds for them to move.

"Just for the record, I can tell the difference between when she's just irritated, and when she's hurt, and...yeah." Mina peeked out onto the sidewalk.

Darien paused for a moment, glancing down at the dirt beneath him.

"Okay. Off the record, maybe I feel...a little bad about what I did," Darien admitted moodily. "But I can't do anything about it now, so...whatever."

"Yeah, there's this new thing called apologizing?" Mina suggested.

"Yeah, no," Darien shot back.

"Do it now or it'll get worse later," Mina warned. "A stitch in time saves nine."

Darien grinned. "I'm kind of surprised you even know what that means."

"Of course I know what it means! It's an idiom!" she spat.

"And...do you know what an idiom is?" Darien asked.

"Colloquial metaphor," Mina replied quickly.

"N...uh...well, yes. Wow." Darien bit his inside cheek. "Look, if I apologize, it'll just make things worse."

"You are unbelievable," Mina muttered.

"Okay, sixty seconds, you ready?" Darien asked.

"Yeah," Mina replied.

A couple houses up, the streams of sparks that were shooting out of every electrical orifice in the house started to catch on carpets. Serena sent another pulse through the radio, then a second after a few dozen seconds.

"Everyone, be advised, I can see electrical fires starting inside the house, may finish the evacuation for us. Fifteen seconds." Amy cleared her throat.

"Just think about what I said," Mina piped up.

"How about you think about this mission? Remember, take the back entrance, comb the basement, I'll use the front and take the rest. Find anyone, forcibly expel them from the house, move on." Darien planted his right foot into the ground and leaned forward towards the street.

"Got it." Mina similarly prepared to bolt from the bush. They both turned their microphones back on.

"Rough estimate, two to five people inside," Amy said evenly. "Jupiter, you can stop now. Mask, Venus...go!"

Darien bolted out like a sprinter, accelerating to maximum speed with inhumane quickness, shooting down the sidewalk at nearly one hundred and ninety miles per hour and hurling through the front door of the house. Mina, considerably slower, leapt over the fences to cross into the backyard.

Darien quickly scanned the main room, seeing nothing but some generic furniture and a fried computer. He dashed through a threshold into the kitchen, finding nobody before moving on.

Mina slammed her shoulder into the back door and immediately darted down a staircase into the basement. Darien ran down a hallway, throwing open all of the doors and scanning each room. He took a quick left which lead into a large den, finding a short man frantically trying to open a floor safe. Darien sped right past him, grabbing the back of his shirt as he passed him, then flashed over to the large window. He chucked the struggling and confused man out through the glass.

"Found one, he's out," Darien said quickly. He dashed through the other side of the room, finding nothing but a staircase. He made his way upwards, tearing through the array of rooms as quickly as possible. "First floor is cleared."

"Found one in the basement, he's out," Mina chimed in. "Should be done in thirty seconds."

Darien saw a small fire spreading on the carpet in one of the rooms, and decided to shorten the remainder of the search by plowing right through the plaster that made up the wall. He repeated this process, making short work of the remainder of the search, finally finding someone trying foolishly to drag a crisp computer out with him. Darien picked him up by the collar and took the unwilling passenger on a quick tour of the last few rooms. Satisfied, he launched out of a second story window, spinning so that he would cushion the man's fall with his back.

"Second floor is cleared," he reported, getting to his feet, right hand still clenched on the shirt collar of the unfortunate man. Seconds later, Mina made her hasty escape from the house.

"House has been cleared, Mars is good to go!" Mina called in. Within seconds, a line of flame shot across the front lawn and engulfed the front porch, burning through the wood of the structure with unnatural speed and moving into the house.

Darien went over to the fence in the backyard and lifted the man up in front of him.

"I know who you've been talking to," he began, absorbing the panicked kicks the man was placing in his chest as if they were nerf darts. "And I don't like that." He lowered him down slightly and slammed his back into the fence. "One look at you, and I can tell that you're not anyone important, so your job is to find someone who is, and tell them what I'm telling you. These people you're talking to? Stop immediately. Fail to comply, and I will _personally _see to it that future historians will never be able to prove that the Yakuza were ever even in this city. Tonight was just the start." With ideal timing, the house behind him started to completely catch fire, flames popping up on the roof and creeping along the sides of the house. "I will burn you all out of the city if I don't get what I want."

With that, Darien hurled him back through the broken section of fence, then turned and vaulted into the adjacent backyard. As the house started to collapse, Amy unscrewed the cap off a fire hydrant and used her body as a medium to focus a high pressure stream to douse any fire loops that stretched dangerously far away from the target. Within minutes, the entire house had collasped on itself, anything that might have been salvage-worthy before melting. Amy focused a final massive wave of water, killing the flames entirely.

"Mission accomplished, everyone, let's get out of here," Amy called out. "See you all tomorrow."

"

**Penny Lane, June 27st, 9:50 PM**

"Ten minutes," Amy announced into her chestpiece, looking around the cold and quiet street from the roof of the barber shop. Serena was standing next to her, peering over the ledge of the roof, looking down at a car puttering by.

Suddenly, it started to rain, a light sprinkle of water striking everything in the area. Serena glanced about for a moment, then turned her attention back to the target of the night. A homeless shelter positioned in the middle of a roundabout.

"I don't like this," Amy muttered quietly.

"What do you mean?" Raye asked through the radio. "Isn't rain kind of your thing?"

"No, not that...something's not right." Amy grimaced. Serena turned to look at her as the rain started to pick up.

"Mercury, please elaborate," Darien asked.

"We've decimated three high-value Yakuza targets, and they've been helpless to stop us. By now, one of two things should have happened. Either they should have ceased communicating with the negaverse entirely, or they should have tried to come after us. Neither has happened." Amy turned around and looked behind her. "They're just...sitting on their hands and watching us burn their safehouses to the ground."

"Well, sounds to me like they just need a fourth reminder of who they're messing with," Lita buzzed in.

"We've set them back tens of millions of dollars already," Amy mused. "They can either surrender or counter, so why are they just sitting around?"

Amy closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead.

"Don't worry Mercury," Serena said quietly. "After tonight, they won't be able to ignore us."

"I'm missing...something," Amy continued. "Sorry everyone, I shouldn't be distracted right now, I'll be focused by go time."

"We'll re-evaluate tomorrow," Mina suggested. "If they don't respond to the destruction of this place, then I'll start to have questions as well."

"Nine minutes," Amy said.

The rain kept on coming down until it was a veritable pour, seconds ticking by in silence as the crew waited to launch their well-practiced attack.

"Do you have any theories?" Serena finally asked.

"Well...we know for a fact that a high-ranking Yakuza official met with a negaverse agent two days ago, because we crashed it." Amy rubbed her hand over her mouth. "So they're still interested in doing business with them...yet, they're taking their time..." she fell silent again, deep in thought. "You guys are probably right, one more attack should—"

"Oh, CRAP!" Luna suddenly screamed through the radio system.

Amy fell silent, pressing her finger up to her ear.

"Everyone, abort, abort!" Luna called out. "Negaverse portals are opening across the city!"

"What?!" Amy gasped, looking around the street. "Everyone, abandon your posts and come over to the roof!"

In seconds, the rest of the crew launched themselves from their hiding places and came up to crowd around Amy.

"Luna, Artemis, elaborate!" Amy ordered.

"The negaverse is launching a massive attack right now!" Artemis informed Amy. "Three hundred and thirty-eight portals!"

Amy's mouth fell open slightly, hand pressed to her ear. "T-that's impossible, it has to be a glitch, reboot the radar!"

"I already did that, Mercury!" Artemis said frantically. "It's no glitch, three hundred and thirty-eight portals just opened at the same time!"

Amy looked around in a panic, mind racing. "Okay, we're aborting the mission and moving to defend the city! Zoning map...wait, hold on, it's way too much to be a coincidence!" She grabbed the sides of her head, pacing about.

"What's not a coincidence?" Darien asked. "What's wrong?"

"We're all the way in the southwest corner of the city right now, completely out of position to move to defend!" Amy said quickly. "This is the _perfect_ time for them to attack like this! They...they must have known we'd be here tonight! But...but..." She kept pacing back and forth, hands on the sides of her head, processing a flood of information.

"Smokescreen," Darien said simply, turning around and looking towards the northeast.

"Oh God," Amy panted. "You're right, smokescreen." She turned towards the rest of the crew. "Guys, I'm sorry, they got me, I should have seen this coming!"

"Seen what coming?!" Raye asked, face draining of color.

"The negaverse never wanted to work with the Yakuza!" Amy moaned, tone becoming more and more frantic. "That was just misdirection, they faked the meeting to get us chasing a ghost! Or...oh, GOD!" Amy tugged at the sides of her blue hair. "No, it was a trap!"

"Mercury, calm down—" Mina started.

"They know we're here right now!" Amy continued, almost hyper-ventilating. "They found some way to track our position, it must have been the stakeouts! They figured out who we were by watching our stakeouts, so...so they've been tracking us for over a week, which would mean..."

"...oh, God." Serena said, voice weak.

Amy pressed her palm to to ear again. "Luna, Artemis, remember the lockdown protocol?"

"Yes, Mercury, I do!" Luna answered quickly.

"Initiate lockdown, and get out of there right now!" Amy ordered. "They know where headquarters is, they will be there any minute!"

"We have agents entering through the portals!" Artemis called out. "The screen's lighting up like a christmas tree, everywhere!"

"Understood, lock it down and get out of there!" Amy said. She turned towards the group again. "Guys, I'm sorry, I—"

"Mercury, it's not your fault," Serena comforted. "Now, what do we do?!"

"Okay, okay," Amy said, trying desperately to remain at least a little calm. "They want us to panic, they want us to panic, they want us to panic..."

"We are in lockdown!" Luna yelled. "At last count, over four hundred negaverse agents and counting had entered!"

"Okay, get out of there!" Amy repeated. "Uh...okay...we don't have a choice. Zoning map strategy three, we move as quick as we can, it's the only thing we can do now!"

"You think it's a trap?" Lita asked.

"I _know_ it's a trap," Amy answered darkly. "But we don't have a choice! These kinds of numbers could destroy the whole city before sunrise, we have to split up! It's what they want, but it's the only option! They might even know where we live, so—"

"Oh, God," Raye said weakly.

"Okay, we won't have radar, so we go old-fashioned," Amy instructed, fighting to keep her voice from cracking. "Zoning map strategy three, let's go!"

They needed no second order. All six of them rocketed off the roof and bolted in various directions to the north, moving as fast as they could, scrambling towards their pre-determined destinations of defense.

"And I'm sorry, everyone," Amy said through the radio. "I don't know how we're going to pull this off. I've let you down."

"Don't talk like that, Amy," Serena said as she sped down the street. "We're going to be fine."

"

AN: If you can't pick up the obvious Beatles reference in this chapter then you should maybe re-evaluate your entire life.

Just putting that out there.

Will update sometime in the next few days.


	18. Broken

Chapter 18: Broken

"

**Mini-Chinatown, June 27th, 10:28 PM**

Serena screeched to a halt in the middle of the intersection, looking around as a few straggling tourists scrambled to leave the area as an assortment of what they must have assumed to be aliens attempted to cause as much damage as possible. She looked around, seeing assorted monsters bursting in and out of the various imitation Chinatown structures.

"Everyone, forget about collateral today," Amy instructed via the radio. "It's drops in the ocean. If it gets you an advantage, just do it."

Serena immediately threw her body into the pillar of an arch that went over the road, breaking the base and causing the top part to descend down next to her. A bevy of four-legged negaverse monsters charged her, so she grabbed the arch and spun it around violently, smacking one in the face as it dived at her and forcing the others to lurch back. She snatched her tiara from her forehead and quickly flung it at the one she had wounded, then followed her throw to scoop it up in her right hand right after it vaporized the foe. She spun back around and threw the arch right at two approaching foes, the long piece of wood striking both and knocking them back several dozen feet.

Feeling the rush on her back, Serena blindly swung her left elbow around behind her and found the skull of a roughly humanoid, silver monster that had tried to jump her. It popped up into the air, and she grabbed it. She threw the beast towards the other two she had just struck, then charged them with her glowing tiara out in front of her. A second later, all three had been neatly broken down at the atomic level.

She looked around, getting her bearings. For the moment, nothing was leaping out to attack her, something that confused her slightly as she slipped her tiara back onto her forehead.

And then, she felt the earth shake, her stance widening to avoid falling over. She spun around just in time to see a sharp crystal-shaped projectile shooting right at her head. She ducked, the tip missing her left 'meatball' by perhaps six inches.

Standing half a block away, the origin point of the sharp projectile, was a blonde in a grey jumpsuit. Serena felt her stomach flip, but had no time to have a full emotional reaction, as this new challenger needed only a couple seconds to close the distance between her and Serena to nothing.

Serena unclipped a fog grenade from her belt and dropped it to the ground after yanking the pin, then quickly ducked underneath Zoicite's vicious right hook. Serena kicked her right foot up into the back of Zoicite's head as she ran past, then spun into a standing position.

"Everyone, Zoicite, Zoicite!" Serena frantically yelped, as the negaverse general spun back around and flashed stepped right into Serena. Serena flew back a few feet from the impact, and then the grenade erupted into a dense fog.

Serena took the opportunity to scramble onto the side of the street, quietly ducking into one of the structures and hiding behind the wall.

"Has Zoicite engaged you?" Amy asked quickly.

"Yes," Serena whispered.

"Mask, Mars, you two are the closest, break off your zones and move to support Moon immediately!" Amy ordered. "Everyone else, expand your zones out to compensate!"

"Copy," Darien buzzed in. "Location?"

"Mini-Chinatown," Serena rasped, ears perked up, listening for any telltale noise.

"Mask, Mars, I need an ETA," Amy continued.

"Six minutes, maybe seven," Darien answered quickly. "On my way."

"Twenty minutes, on my way," Raye chimed in.

"Moon, you need to hold her off until support arrives," Amy said, unmistakable sorrow in her voice. "Buy as much time as you can, you may not be able to take her by yourself."

"I'm Sailor Moon," Serena replied simply. "I'll throw her into the surface of the sun if I have to."

Suddenly, the wall behind Serena collapsed as Zoicite punched through it, grabbing her by the collar and throwing her back out onto the street. Serena bounced on the asphalt before slowing to a stop in the middle of the intersection.

"You can't hide from me, brat!" Zoicite taunted, briskly stepping towards her. She quickly flashed a small screen mounted on her wrist at Serena. "We're tracking your position!"

Serena got up, fists up. "Finally fighting your own battles, Zoicite?" She saw the outline of Zoicite come into focus through the thick fog.

"You and your friends have held out for a remarkable long time," she admitted. "And you've helped teach me an important lesson. I can't ask underlings to do a job meant for me!"

She lunged in, right fist dipping down low and rising up to uppercut Serena in the stomach. Serena jumped back, the strike just barely missing, and Serena used the opening to drive her right fist into Zoicite's chest. Serena then dashed away, running to the sidewalk and grabbing a parked red truck by the front grill. With no small amount of adrenaline helping, she lifted the car up and threw it at Zoicite. But with a half-step back to support the weight, Zoicite caught it and returned it right back, Serena just barely managing to get out the way.

She tried to put some distance between her and Zoicite, but she was faster, and was capable of a vicious flash step that was practically short-distance teleportation, and clotheslined Serena right into the ground.

Serena hit the concrete hard, but had the awareness to swing her leg over into Zoicite's ankle to knock her off balance and push her over. She rose up and drove the tip of her boot into Zoicite's stomach, then threw herself through the window of an office complex.

Serena wasted no time in turning and running deeper into the building, Zoicite hot on her heels after a couple seconds. Serena found the emergency stairwell and began rocketing upwards, taking entire flights in a single bound. She didn't know exactly what she had in mind, but anything that bought her so much as an extra second was worth doing right now.

By the sixth floor, Zoicite had caught up to the fleeing Serena, about ready to body slam her into the concrete walls. With quick thinking, Serena ripped a chunk of the iron handrail on the staircase out, pointed one end towards the charging Zoicite while putting the other end down towards the floor. The timing was ideal, and Zoicite ended up charging her stomach right into the jagged iron. She flinched and grunted in pain as blood was drawn. The other end was driven into the ground, meaning the more than Zoicite pushed, the deeper the weapon was driven into her. Serena didn't bother to hang around to see what happened, instead hurling herself upwards and grabbing onto the rail for the seventh floor.

Zoicite quickly ripped the handrail chunk from her wound, blood flowing freely from it. With little more than a look of annoyance, Zoicite pressed her open right palm to the injured spot, holding it there for a few seconds. When she removed her hand, the injury may as well have never existed.

She looked back up in front of her, just in time to see the business end of a fireaxe falling towards her face from above. She had just enough time to acknowledge the fire hose that the weapon's grip had been tied to, which created the arcing swing, before she ducked just a hair too late. The blade cut into her cheek, gouging out a deep cut and drawing another stream of blood.

Fury coursing through her body, she pressed her palm to the new wound. Again, within seconds, the injury had been cured entirely, but the insult attached to it was clearly not forgotten.

Serena had taken the opportunity to get all the way up to the roof, exiting out onto the top. She looked around, trying to see if maybe she could leverage this into an advantage.

And then, the entire building started crumbling.

Down below, Zoicite had started throwing her body through every single wall and support structure she could find on the lower floors, causing the tower to lose stability and collapse inward on itself. Serena attempted to leap to another building, but the quickly collapsing building beneath her feet knocked her off balance and left her flailing as a couple hundred pounds of concrete fell into a destructive heap, not sparing damage to other nearby buildings and kicking up a large cloud of dust. As Serena fell, she saw a black thundercloud far off in the distance, lightning bolts raining down from it like bullets out of a machine gun, mind acknowledging that Lita was hard at work.

And then, that thought was gone, as Serena hit the street. The impact with the ground caused no small amount of pain, and it was all Serena could do to roll into a standing position as Zoicite closed on her.

"Do you have any idea the things Queen Beryl has done to me thanks to you?!" Zoicite roared, a crazed grin on her features as she advanced on Serena. "Well, I'm going to revisit those things on you before I'm done with you!"

Serena stared in shock at her abdomen, distracted just enough for Zoicite to flash right into her and knock her to the ground.

"It was a nice trick, brat, but I've been preparing for this very moment for weeks, and I've left _nothing _to chance!" With that, Zoicite reached forward, grabbed Serena by the ankle, and lifted her up.

Serena's face met the street with tremendous force, Zoicite throwing her around like a ragdoll. She repeated this violent act a few times before throwing her into the side of an abandoned bus.

"Months and months of reporting back with bad news!" Zoicite screamed, leaping over the bus as Serena frantically stood up. Serena tried to slug her in the face, but Zoicite deflected it away with her hands and backhanded her in the cheek. "Oh, you can't even _imagine _what she did to me after your little stunt at the art exhibit! How I survived I don't know!"

Serena rolled back and stood up, feeling her muscles begin to weaken as her body protested the abuse it was taking. Zoicite was in no mood to be sporting and charged into her, grabbing her neck in both hands and driving her through a concrete wall.

"Queen Beryl made it quite clear that either your head or my head will be mounted on her wall by the end of today!" Zoicite continued, cocking her right hand back into a fist and driving it into Serena's left temple. "My only regret is you won't live to see your city burned to ashes!"

Zoicite stood up, lifting Serena with her, she too weakened to fight back.

"And now..." Zoicite flipped her around so she was grabbing onto the back of her uniform, one hand up near her collar and the other on the small of her back. She lifted Serena high above her head.

"I—"

She picked her right leg up slightly, placing the sole of her boot on an elevated block of concrete that formed a small barrier in front of a parking space.

"—will—"

And then, in a whip of motion, she brought Serena's back down on her elevated knee.

"—BREAK you!"

A sickening crunch rang through Serena's ears and the most agonizing of pain flooded her whole body. Serena's spine bended in a way that spines were not made to bend. Zoicite's knee forced several of her thoracic vertebrate out of alignment, while a couple others broke entirely, weakening that ever so important connection in her body. Zoicite threw her down to the ground, leaving her to try to regain her bearings amid searing pain.

"Should have done this months ago," Zoicite said, voice finally calming as Serena weakly tried to drag herself along the floor, away from her.

"So predictable," Zoicite taunted, casually following Serena as she attempted to crawl away. "We knew you'd stake those locations, we knew you wouldn't have it in you to actually wage a full frontal war on the Yakuza, we knew you'd be out in the southwest tonight...you and your friends read from a one page playbook. And in the end, you never had a chance to actually win."

Serena weakly rolled over so she was looking at her, then slowly reached up to grab her tiara. The moment it was in her hand, however, Zoicite flashed forward and kicked her right wrist, knocking the weapon over into a rose bush by the side of the road. And then, for good measure, she drove the heel of her boot down onto Serena's forearm.

Serena screamed in pain, the stomach churning crack leaving no doubt that Zoicite had just neatly snapped Serena's right forearm bone in two.

"At the end of the day, you don't have it in you to do whatever it takes to win," Zoicite said, towering over Serena as she weakly reached over to grab at her broken arm. "And that's why we're here right now."

Zoicite raised her right boot up again, setting her sights on Serena's forehead this time.

Just before she could bring it down, Darien rammed his body full into her side, a bone-jarring impact at nearly two hundred miles an hour, that sent an unprepared Zoicite flying across the street and into a building. The brick of the building wall gave and Zoicite flew through it as if it was made out of paper, and kept on going through a few more hard surfaces.

"I'm on scene," Darien reported, looking down at Serena. She was grimacing in pain, panting heavily, looking up into the sky with unfocused eyes. "Moon, what happened?"

She fought through the immense pain enough to get a coherent word out. "Back!"

"Mask, status?" Amy asked.

"Zoicite at least temporarily incapacitated." Darien kneeled down next to Serena, looking at her visibly out of place right arm. "Right arm definitely broken." He almost reached out to roll her over onto her stomach but quickly thought better of it, instead opting to bend down and take the best look he could without moving her. "Severe back injury, unable to give exact details at this time." He glanced over at the hole in the wall where Zoicite had just flown, then back down to Serena. "It's bad."

"Oh, God," Amy moaned miserably. "Mask, you need to protect her."

Darien looked around. "No negaverse agent presence here right now outside of Zoicite. I'm guessing she wanted Moon to herself. I'll handle Zoicite. Mars?"

"Fourteen minutes," Raye answered.

"Understood." Darien looked down at Serena. "Okay, Moon, try not to move, just stay put. You're gonna be okay, just don't move."

Zoicite emerged from the hole in the brick wall, looking mostly unfazed, more amused than anything.

"I'll handle this," Darien said, standing up and pulling his black staff from his waist. Slowly, he walked towards Zoicite, rod extended in front of him, pointing at the general.

"I was hoping you'd show up," Zoicite said, smiling as if pleased with the new development. "Been waiting for this since the art exhibit." She raised her fists up in front of her as they closed on each other. "You're going down, cape boy."

"I'm right here," Darien replied, whipping the staff across his body and smacking her right in the cheek with the tip. Zoicite spun around under the impact, but simply used the momentum to whirl about and deliver a hook to his ribs that he felt, even as he blocked it with his elbow.

Slowly, Serena focused her eyes and managed to turn to watch as Zoicite and Darien engaged in a brutal slugfest in the middle of the street. She tried to force the terrible pain away from her eyeballs so she could concentrate, but could just barely process the things she was seeing. It looked vaguely like a boxing match, both fighters disciplined and methodical, giving neither the opportunity to do anything more than land some punches. No grabbing, no throwing, no wanton hurling of bodies.

"I haven't just been sitting around on the couch since we last met, cape boy!" Zoicite shouted as she ducked underneath a swing from the rod. "I've been preparing for this!"

"You looking for me to congratulate you?!" Darien snarled. He tossed the rod up a few feet into the air, getting Zoicite's attention drawn up to it for just a split-second. It was enough for him to step forward and drive his right fist into her jaw, pushing her back and to the ground. He caught his staff neatly in his left hand, then brought it down like a whip towards her. She rolled to the side, just dodging it, then immediately flashing back up. She reached forward and grabbed Darien's left hand, surprising him, then ripping the rod out of his grip. Stunned for the briefest of moments, that was all it took for Zoicite to bring the weapon down and strike his left shin with it. He stumbled to the ground, putting his right hand out to steady himself as he dropped to one knee. Zoicite didn't miss the opportunity, and stomped down on the back of his hand.

Darien roared in pain, hearing and feeling the crack inside his hand. There was no doubt about it. It was broken, and as Zoicite snapped the rod across his face and drove him backwards, Darien immediately internally acknowledged the huge significance of such an injury.

"No! I'm looking for you to die!" Zoicite mocked, lunging forth and wielding her stolen weapon like a club.

Darien raised his left hand up and managed to block it by deflecting her right hand away, but she simply slammed her left fist into his ribcage. With his dominant hand broken, his defense was now untenable, and going on the attack was difficult to even imagine. She drove him back, him frantically doing what he could to block her blows using only his left hand.

Serena saw the tide turn, and realized what was coming next. She was having a hard time keeping track of time, but she was pretty sure Raye was still at least ten minutes out. Nobody else was coming. And so, in what was against the advice of every licensed medical doctor on the planet, she gingerly rolled onto her stomach, wincing with pain through the entire process.

Zoicite clubbed Darien in the temple with the staff, then stepped forward and swept her foot under his. Darien fell gracelessly to the ground and Zoicite gave the shaft of the rod a twist to reveal the short blade.

"I rather like this weapon," she mused for a second, before raising it above her head and bringing it down in a strong slash. Darien rolled away, avoiding what would have been a fatal cut, but received a very deep one to his left thigh nonetheless.

He clutched at the bleeding wound with his left hand as he rolled up onto one knee. But there wasn't any time for him to even think about halting the blood flow, as Zoicite could smell victory and was not relenting in her assault. She lunged forward like a fencer, point of the blade trying to find it's way into Darien's brain. He ducked, avoiding the stab but putting himself in an entirely disadvantageous position.

"You're no huckleberry at all, cape boy!" Zoicite taunted, raising the blade up high above her head and preparing to deliver the final strike.

With half a second to spare, Serena returned Darien's favor of a few minutes ago. Moving as fast as she could, she threw herself into Zoicite's side, the two blondes flying down the street as Serena's momentum drove them down multiple city blocks.

Darien watched them shrink into the distance, stunned into silence, even forgetting about his wounds for a moment. Serena kept driving a surprised Zoicite down the road, a good four blocks away from Darien, before the two crashed through the massive glass double doors of a bank at the end of the street.

Their collection through the doors snapped him out of it, and he managed to struggle to his feet. He began hobbling down the road, the thigh injury crippling his speed to little more than a fast limp.

"Status, Zoicite and Moon have entered the First National Bank, I am four blocks away and moving to support, but my combat and mobility have been crippled," he announced, all too aware he was leaving a trail of blood behind him.

"Mask, I thought you said Moon's back—" Amy began.

"Yes, Mercury. I did," Darien answered the unasked question. He began trying to generate as much push as he could with his remaining good leg, taking large strides to make up for his mostly useless left one. "Mars?"

"Nine minutes!" Raye yelped. "What do we—"

"I'll get her," Darien insisted.

"

The two flailing bodies impacted the marble floor of the large, vacated lobby, cracking it in several places. Zoicite was first to stand up, annoyed by her moment of triumph being interrupted for the second time today.

"I already broke you, brat!" she spat as Serena forced herself to stand up. Her back did not appreciate the additional stress, and only gallons of adrenaline gave her even the slightest hope of being able to go on without collapsing and falling unconscious. She stood there, hunched, right arm dangling uselessly at her side, posing no real threat to Zoicite.

Serena looked around. She had a very limited amount of time before either Zoicite easily overpowered and killed her, or the adrenaline wore off and she simply couldn't keep going anymore. Perhaps less than a minute. And perhaps three seconds before Zoicite started an assault that would end with Serena dead.

She glanced down and saw a short sword laying on the floor in the middle of the room. Zoicite had managed to keep her grip on it down the street, but had finally dropped it when she bounced on the marble.

She quickly looked up, eyes finding a massive marble pillar that went all the way up to the ceiling, right behind Zoicite.

She took a half step back and felt her backside touch a rounded, large, and slightly cold-to-the-touch barrier. A second massive marble pillar, identical to the other, going all the way up to the ceiling.

Beggars can't be choosers.

Before Zoicite could initiate, Serena flung herself as hard as she could at her, knocking her back into the pillar with all the force she could muster, causing the marble to crack and exposing the concrete inside it. Quickly, with her right arm useless and left arm keeping Zoicite pinned against the pillar, she reared her head back and slammed it right into Zoicite's face, knocking her back and denting the concrete. She repeated this process several times, each time hurting herself more or less just as much as she was hurting Zoicite, but managed to keep on causing damage to the pillar.

Finally, Zoicite overcame the surprise and kneed Serena in the stomach and pushed her back. But she wasn't prepared for Serena immediately planting her right foot into the ground and rocketing back at her, again driving her into the pillar. This time, the pillar started to buckle, large chunks of concrete crumbling to the ground under the stress of the assault.

With one final headbutt that left Zoicite dazed, Serena spun around and hurled herself towards the second pillar. She threw her right shoulder into it, driving into the marble, instantly shattering the shell and exposing the hard concrete within. With no time to care that her shoulder was figuratively screaming at her, she started beating her fist into the exposed section.

Aware that Zoicite would take up the attack at any second, and that she only had one chance at this, after cracking the concrete as much as she could via fist, she drove her right shoulder into it yet again. Every single part of her body, particularly her very much broken back, could not have protested any louder than they did as she did this, but she didn't pay them any mind. Finally, the pillar gave up, cracking into two massive pieces of material, slumping towards the right wall.

Serena spun around just in time to duck underneath Zoicite's flying fist, then scramble back into the middle of the room and grab the short blade. She raised it up and stuck it down into the ground, gouging out a thin, long hole in the marble. She yanked the blade out and cast it to the side.

"What are you doing?!" Zoicite shouted, running in with intent to kick Serena in the head as if it was a soccer ball. As it turned out, not an especially wise choice, and one fueled by her anger and confusion, as Serena simply leaned back, then reached forward and slammed her left fist into the back of Zoicite's plant foot. Zoicite fell to the ground next to Serena, and Serena wrapped her left arm around her neck, pulling her head in towards her chest, and slipping her right foot down into her self-created gap.

"You won't have to worry about seeing Beryl again," Serena grunted, tightening her chokehold as much as she could.

"What do you think you're—"

Suddenly, the ceiling buckled, sending a little dusting of plaster down towards the ground, a warning shot.

And then, she got it.

The two massive pillars were not decorative, but indeed very much functional, and part of the support for the second floor of the bank. Without them acting as support, the part of the second floor that was over the lobby was suddenly feeling much more prone to the ravages of gravity.

And the force of impact of those shattered pillars on the ground? If that unsupported second floor wasn't going to fall before, it certainly was now.

The ceiling split in several places, hundreds of tons of concrete, steel, and who knows what else about to come crashing down into the lobby.

Where they were.

Immediately, Zoicite tried to yank away from Serena's chokehold, but found the marble floor to be frustratingly frictionless and without handholds, plus Serena's right foot was rooted into the ground, so she started frantically throwing her fists up above her head, slamming them into Serena's face.

Serena absorbed the punches, her grip on Zoicite's neck not weakening. They could hear rumblings from above as the cracks started to split into big gaping holes, which gave way to massive chunks of materials.

Zoicite tried to yank away again. Serena's back was pulsing out pure pain, hoping beyond hope that her brain would get the message and stop putting more stress on the fracture. But Serena simply refused to let go.

"Whatever happens to me, _this_ is where you die," Serena hissed, glancing up for a second to see a giant piece of plaster, stone and steel start to fall from the ceiling, gravity mere seconds away from guiding it to an earth-shaking crash right on top of the two.

Zoicite reached her hands up and grabbed Serena's left wrist, desperately trying to peel it away from her. Her inhumanely strong arm muscles pulled with everything they had. Somehow, impossibly, it didn't so much as bend.

"No..." Zoicite muttered, still attempting to rip Serena's arm away with all her might. Serena looked down at her. "No, nonononono!" She wasn't angry anymore. Wasn't annoyed. Wasn't frustrated. Just absolutely, unequivocally terrified. The several-ton weight was poised to crush both of them into nothing.

Zoicite's eyeballs rotated upwards, looking up at Serena's face. Serena drew her head back, preparing to time her final move.

"B-but...I..."

Serena took her head back as far as it would go, her back not particularly appreciating that either, but she wasn't about to start paying attention to that now.

"But I broke you!" Zoicite whimpered.

And with that, Serena brought her forehead down one last time, right onto Zoicite's, before wrenching her leg out from the hole in the ground and dashing for the entrance. Zoicite saw stars for just a second, dazed and unable to act. Just enough time for the falling materials to crash down right on top of her, crushing her right down into the marble, breaking everything that could be broken. As if that wasn't enough, the next few seconds were filled with more and more weight raining down on top of her, as if she wasn't already long dead. A few weeks from now, a cleanup crew would find a jumble of shattered bones, destroyed organs, and splattered blood that they'd never be able to place to an identity, and all that would be left of her was an 'Unknown Person' inscription on a tribute plaque outside the bank whenever they got around to rebuilding it.

Serena threw herself out the doors, out onto the sidewalk, propelling herself out onto the street a bit before collapsing, the entire building imploding behind her.

"

Down the street, Darien had stopped. He shouldn't have, for a myriad of reasons, but he had forgotten all of the reasons. His jaw was hanging open, staring as the massive and expensive facility fell in on itself, kicking up a giant cloud of dust that was now sweeping in every direction like a plague. He had had the benefit of seeing the entire confrontation through the destroyed entrance as he limped down, and was now just a block away. In fact, you couldn't have asked for a better view of everything that had just transpired. And yet, he still couldn't quite believe it.

The dust cloud stampeded down the street, going past him. He got some of the powdery substance in his mouth.

A lot of it, actually.

He didn't care.

"Mask, status update," Amy asked, snapping him out of his stupor. He shook his head a few times, closed his mouth, spit out as much of the offending dust as he could, then cleared his throat.

"U-uh...status...Zoicite is down," he said weakly, pressing his finger up to his ear. "I think."

"Don't think, know!" Amy demanded.

"I'm...I'm pretty sure, but...I didn't do it," he replied, voice low and meek.

"Wait, what happened?" Amy questioned.

"Uh...Seren-Moon...did it." Suddenly, he remembered, and quickly took off on a hobbled gallop towards the bank, finally realizing that Serena was splayed out in the road about eighty feet away from him.

"M-Mask, you're going to have to expand on that," Amy stuttered.

"Uh...Mercury, is there any way for you to retrieve the tape from our chest cameras?" Darien asked, relieved to see Serena's left hand move a little bit as he came up on her.

"What does that have to do with—"

"Is there?" Darien interrupted, cautiously looking over Serena's body, seeing her torso rising up and down rapidly.

"Y-yes, Mask, I can," Amy answered. "Now—"

"I think you should watch the video tomorrow then." He bent down, looking at Serena's face. She was still awake, but looked like she wasn't going to be for much longer, drawing in quick and frantic breaths as the adrenaline left her.

"Why?" Amy asked.

"Because...you're not going to believe me," Darien answered, voice becoming more frantic. "Uh, guys, she's...she's in a really bad shape, there's...there's a lot of blood, she definitely broke her arm, and I think she broke her back, although not based off what I just saw happen...oh, God, uh...what do I do?!"

"Three minutes!" Raye yelled. "Just—"

Darien closed his eyes, forcing himself to remain calm. "Okay, Mars, what direction are you coming in from?!"

"Northwest," she replied.

"Okay, new target!" He put his left hand up to his forehead. "Uh...there's a hospital between us and you, go there! It's probably under attack, you need to...to go there and salvage it, clean out any negaverse agents you find in the area, get them up and running before they evacuate, and then make them get an ambulance over here! I can't move her, we need paramedics, whatever you have to do, get them out here and make sure they're ready to take her!"

"C-copy," Raye replied. "Mask, is—"

"It's...I can't lie, it's...oh, Jesus," he muttered, reaching behind him and tearing a strip off of his cape. He dropped to his knees next to her. "Just go as fast as you can!" He found a large cut on her left thigh, and quickly tied the strip of his cape around it, knotting it tight. "Moo-uh, Serena, listen to me, try to stay awake, okay?"

She was still panting down gasps of air, each one coming so quickly after the last that they were probably having minimal positive effect. Her eyes were still open, but glazed and unfocused.

"If...if you fall unconscious, you might slip into a coma, just...just stay with me, okay?" He saw another large wound on her back, and reached behind him to rip another piece of his cape off. This one, he crumpled up and pressed up against it, halting the flow of blood.

"S-Serena, this is going to hurt, but I have to stop the bleeding, okay?" he said quickly. "Just...just try to stay awake." He started to apply pressure. She gasped and whimpered, but miraculously didn't loose conscious.

"Okay...okay...Serena, just...you're going to be okay, just...focus on my voice, okay? Just..." Darien looked around helplessly, still pressing into the wound. Suddenly, in a flash of dull colors, she was back in civilian form, wearing a simple yellow jacket with a blue shirt and a blue skirt.

"Uh, guys, she just...she just transformed back into...into Serena, is that...Luna, please, is that—"

"Yes, Mask, that's fine," Luna said, although her tone indicated quite clearly that there was nothing fine about this entire situation. "Just...just please keep her awake!"

Darien flashed a couple colors, reverting back into his own human form. "Mars, give me some good news."

"We're in luck," Raye replied, abject terror in her voice not indicating any such thing. "They were in the process of locking down, but the monster presence is very thin, I'll get them out there."

"Okay...okay..." Darien panted, looking around as Serena kept on struggling to remain awake. "Just...Serena, just...help is coming, okay?"

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 28th, 2:46 AM**

Darien paced back and forth in the waiting room, hands behind his back, right one in a small cast. It had been a simple matter for the doctors to reset the bone and encase it in a protective shell. A minor injury, seen a billion times in hospitals around the world, one hundred percent recovery basically assured. By the time he had gotten to the hospital, his large thigh wound was already healed, a by-product of his super alter ego. Serena had the same benefit, and it was the only reason why she wasn't long dead, but that was small comfort now. Darien had no idea what the limitations on their powers and abilities were, he had no clue how much abuse was too much, and Serena had certainly looked on death's door a few hours ago.

So, she had gone into emergency surgery the moment she had arrived. Raye swept through the area and cleaned it out of any monsters, asking only that the hospital would retrieve and immediately treat Serena and Darien. The scouts generally preferred to not interact so directly with humans, as secrecy was important, but they had no other choice. The other scouts had dutifully remained on patrol, beating back the negaverse assault, calling upon every last inch of their powers to protect as much of the city as they could. They gave updates on the radio every now and then. Darien had stopped paying much attention to them hours ago. It was far from a clean job. Amy had been forced to generate a massive tsunami wave from the docks, which wiped out close to a hundred negaverse agents, at the cost of millions in collateral. Lita had fried a lot of electrical equipment calling down lightning bolts, but it was worth it.

Darien could have gone back out into the field and been an asset, even with his broken hand, but someone needed to stay behind and protect Serena. In her state, even the weakest negaverse creature would make easy pickings of her. So far, there had been no attempts made to re-invade the hospital. In fact, a huge reason why the scouts had managed to turn the tide of the fight and win was that, without Zoicite, the negaverse army seemed much less competent and organized.

There wasn't anyone else in the waiting room. The hospital had a skeleton crew, meaning Darien was alone with his thoughts. And he certainly had a lot of them to process through. And so, think he had for the last few hours, a minimal amount of attention on status updates from the scouts. In the last several minutes, they had finally stopped, the battle won. And now, they were on their way to find out the cost.

The doors to the waiting room burst open and the four girls ran in. Raye was slumped over in Lita's arms, holding a handkerchief over her face. Amy looked pretty miserable too, Mina guiding her in.

"Well?" Lita asked quickly, the four stopping in front of Darien as he stopped pacing.

"Uh...it's...it's hard to say, but...so far, so good," Darien said thickly, pursing his lips.

Raye wiped the corners of her eyes with the handkerchief, eyes puffy and red. "I-it's all my stupid fault!" she moaned miserably. "I-I d-d-didn't get there f-f-fast enough!" Lita pulled Raye into her chest, stroking her hair.

"Oh, Raye, it wasn't your fault," Amy said, walking over to one of the chairs and collapsing into it. Mina stayed with her, letting her lean over and put her head on her shoulder. "It...it's mine! I should have seen this whole thing coming, we were completely blindsided, I...I didn't do my job!" She sniffled a couple times, Mina patting her head.

"They...they don't understand how she got the injuries that she got," Darien said slowly, looking down at the ground. "And obviously, I can't tell them. They haven't told me much, but...it seems like it's going well. They...they seem really confused, they don't understand why...why she's not already dead."

"Well, I suppose that's the best news we could have expected," Mina said softly, Amy crying into her chest. "Come on, Amy, it's okay, this wasn't your fault."

Amy slowly looked up, wiping her cheeks off. "Okay...um...we talked to Luna and Artemis, they...they don't understand everything either, but they seemed...fairly certain that if she could get stable she'd make a complete recovery, and it would be a very fast recovery, but...first, she has to get stable. So...I guess we're hopefully headed that way." She sniffled a few times.

Slowly, Raye peeled her face away from Lita's chest. "So...she's gonna be okay?" she squeaked.

Darien nodded. "Yeah. I think so. I...I'm not...I'm not going to doubt her anymore."

"What happened?" Mina asked, turning to look at Darien. "Do you know?"

"It's...it's hard to explain, and kind of...just watch the video the first chance you get." Darien timidly licked his lips.

"We need someone to camp at the hospital overnight," Amy said, looking around at everyone. "All it would take is a single negaverse agent to take her out right now. Someone has to watch her."

Darien raised his casted hand up in the air. "I'll...I'll do it."

"Thank you," Amy said quietly. "Now...we need to get home...girls, we'll meet at headquarters tomorrow...as early as possible, I know it's late."

"I'll be there at seven," Mina said. Lita nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, seven, no problem," Raye agreed, wiping the inside corners of her eyes off. "B-before we go, we should..."

"Yeah," Amy agreed. Raye extended either hand out, one towards Lita and one towards Amy. They took it. Mina came in and took Amy's other hand in her right and Lita's other in her left, forming a circle. As one, they all dropped down to their knees, closed their eyes, and bowed their heads.

Darien watched the circle, glancing around awkwardly for a moment.

"Uh...actually..." he went over to the edge of the group, between Raye and Amy. He dropped to his knees slowly. "Can...would it be okay if I—"

"Of course," Raye said, letting Amy's hand go and extending it towards him. Amy did the same, accepting his cast hand as Raye took the other one.

"I...I haven't done this in awhile," he said quietly to himself.

"Well, it...it comes right back," Raye whispered.

Darien sighed, then closed his eyes and bowed his head.

"

AN: Not sure when the next update is coming, hope in 2-3 days.


	19. Recovery

Chapter 19: Recovery

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 28th, 6:45 AM**

"That is truly amazing."

Darien flexed his right hand back and forth, moving his fingers around. The doctor, a thin tall man with a white horseshoe-shaped haircut that left the top of his head bald, had just removed the cast, and was watching in shock as Darien manipulated what seemed to be an entirely healed hand about.

"Well, the x-rays from last night were pretty conclusive, it was definitely broken," the doctor continued. "And yet...here we are." He held a couple of transluent sheets up to the strong light, looking at the various images of Darien's right hand. "You're definitely all the way back."

"Must be good genes," Darien said dismissively.

"Son, this isn't just a faster-than-usual healing process. I've seen faster-than-usual healing processes before, I've read about them, and this isn't one of them. _This_ is positively superhuman."

"S...superhuman, whaaaaat, there's...no such thing as a...superhuman..." Darien trailed off awkwardly. "Look, I don't know what to tell you, I'm just going to be grateful for it and move on. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and all that."

"Hm." The doctor squinted at Darien suspiciously. "That girl who came in with you last night...Tsukino."

"Serena, yeah." Darien nodded.

"Are you two...related, somehow?" he asked.

"No," Darien replied. "Why?"

"Huh..." the doctor looked up at the ceiling. "But you do know her?"

"Yes, I know her...but why did you think we were related?" Darien raised an eyebrow.

"That girl has been the talk of the entire hospital since she came in." The doctor put his hand up to his chin. "At best, she should have been in a coma, and at worst she should have been dead, and she was much closer to the worst than the best. And yet, she's doing remarkably well. Surgery went off without a hitch, and she's resting now. An absolutely...superhuman show of fast healing, on a much larger scale than yours, but still. So I thought perhaps it ran in the family."

"Oh, so...she's fine?" Darien asked, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Well...her right arm is in a cast and she's got a giant brace on her torso, but given what she went through, I'd say fine is an acceptable term to use. Stable, at least." He stared at Darien. "Are you and her a...what are the kids saying these days...an item?"

Darien's eyes widened, staring back at the doctor. "Uh...nooooo...whhhhyyy?"

"Oh no, it's just...it's too bad, really." He turned towards the counter, grabbing a folder and writing some notes on a pad of paper. "I was just thinking out loud, that with your mutual incredible healing abilities, any offspring you two produced would be a truly fascinating specimen."

Darien's eyes went even wider, cheeks going slightly red, and he put his right palm out towards the doctor. "Whoooooaaa there, Charles Benedict Davenport!"

The doctor turned around, throwing a confused look at Darien.

Darien glanced around. "Charles Benedict Davenport, the...the father of eugenics." He suddenly narrowed his gaze. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be a doctor?"

"Right. Well, so you two are just friends?" he asked.

"Sure, let's...go with that," Darien said meekly.

"Well, rest assured that she's doing miraculously well. I'd give you a timeframe, but it seems that the rules don't apply to her, so it's impossible to say." He nodded.

"Right. Well, I kind of need to stay here until she gets out, so I'll be in the waiting room. Any updates you can give me are appreciated." Darien turned towards the door.

"Wait," the doctor called out. "Since you're not leaving the hospital anyway, do you think I could...run a few tests on you?" He pulled an empty syringe out, brandishing it.

"Uh...no," Darien said flatly, reaching for the doorknob. The doctor ran across the room, putting his hand on the edge of the door as Darien tried to open it.

"Well, how about I just take some samples?" he asked. "Like a blood sample...maybe a few other fluids—"

"Like my semen?!" Darien snapped. "Yeah, no thank you."

"Mister Shields, please," he pleaded. "What you have in your body could be the key to unlocking thousands of years worth of human evolution, medical science would be forever in your debt if—"

"Well, medical science can suck it!" Darien grabbed the knob and pulled it violently towards him, getting it open a few feet so he could squeeze out. "You're not getting any of my blood."

The doctor followed him out into the hallway.

"Sir, please, you could get your name published in a medical journal! And I might even be able to secure you some sort of monetary compensation—"

"No," Darien repeated, walking down the hall briskly.

"Okay, okay, how about this?" The doctor grabbed onto Darien's right arm. "Only your blood, and I'll sign an agreement that promises I'm only going to examine it, and inject it into lab rats and monkeys!"

Darien stopped and turned towards the doctor. "Okay."

"Really?!"

"No."

Darien turned back around and kept walking, leaving the disappointed doctor standing there.

"

**Headquarters, June 28th, 6:58 AM**

"I don't understand," Lita muttered. "Why didn't they destroy the entire thing?"

The four girls were standing in front of the warehouse that made up their headquarters. Amazingly, inexplicably, the structure was still standing. In fact, the only thing that was new was a hole in the west wall, about five feet in diameter, that must have been used as a point of entry and exit for whichever negaverse monsters had conducted the raid.

Amy, head bowed and frowning glumly, went over to the outer door and unlocked it slowly, the three girls following.

"Yeah, you'd think they'd just burn the thing down while they were here..." Mina said under her breath.

Amy didn't reply, guiding them into the office, which was seemingly untouched. Mina followed her, Lita and Raye taking up the rear, Raye slumped over with Lita helping navigate her forward.

"You'd think the negaverse wouldn't bother being so precise." Lita looked around as Amy keyed in the code for the inner door.

The four scouts entered, looking around. The only thing left was the kitchenette in the corner, which had been undisturbed. The computer, the desk, the maps and diagrams on the walls, the boxes of equipment...none of it was destroyed, but rather completely gone.

"That...that might actually be worse," Lita moaned, scanning the room in the hopes of finding a single thing of interest. Head still hanging, Amy pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and started rapidly tapping the screen.

Mina went up next to Amy as Raye lurched over towards the couches in the corner. "Amy, I'm really, really sorry. I know how hard you worked on all of this."

Amy didn't answer, just tapping away at her phone screen.

"Yeah, Amy, I'm sorry." Lita patted her back. "But we'll rebuild. You have our complete support. If you need any more money, my entire account is at your disposal."

"Yeah," Mina agreed. "I know this looks bad, but—"

Suddenly, the concrete floor segment where the desk and equipment used to be slowly started to slide in towards the near wall, a seam widening, a large gap in the ground widening from nothing to several feet.

"But...but..."

After the section of floor had retracted all the way into the wall, with a rumble, the desk, computer and all, boxes of equipment, rolled up maps and diagrams, and everything else that had been there before all rose up from underneath the ground.

"But...but..."

With a final little shiver, the desk and the boxes came back up level with the rest of the floor, meaning that outside of the maps and diagrams being rolled up on the floor rather than hanging from the walls, the warehouse looked identical to how it had been when the crew had left the previous night.

Mina and Lita stared with bugged-out eyes and open mouths as Amy walked over to the desk chair.

"Buh?" Mina blurbed out.

"Amy..." Lita said warily. "What...what did you do?"

"Lockdown," Amy answered quietly. "When initiated, everything gets pulled down underneath two feet of concrete." She pulled a wire out of her pocket, sticking one end into the USB port on the front of the computer and the other into her cell phone. "When the negaverse agents arrived, all they saw was the kitchenette, so they thought they had the wrong place, or that the target was worthless. That's why they left it standing." She didn't sound particularly proud or happy that her emergency plan had worked. In fact, she still sounded miserable.

"Amy, are...are you a..." Mina stammered, looking about, trying to find the right descriptive word and failing.

"I had a construction crew come out and install it overnight back a few months," Amy said. "I secured them all green cards in exchange for their silence. I...I knew this was a possibility." She slumped over in the chair after tapping the phone screen a few times. "And...and it's my job to...make sure we're ready for everything, and that...every possibility is covered."

"Amy." Mina bent down next to her, grabbing her shoulders. "I don't say this nearly enough. I couldn't possibly say it enough. But you are _amazing_—"

"No, I'm not!" Amy snapped, pushing Mina away. "No, I'm awful!" Her face softened and she slowly pressed her forehead into the desk. "I...I left us completely open to an attack like this! Serena's injuries are on my head!" She closed her eyes. "I'm terrible."

Lita went over to Amy, grabbing her shoulders and lifting her up into a standing position. "Amy Mizuno. You listen to me. You _are_ amazing. These things you do, these things you think of, nobody does it better. So, you need to stop talking like that. If it wasn't for your judgement, your foresight, your vision, I have no idea what the scouts would do. And yesterday was, in absolutely no way, shape, or form, your fault. And if Serena was here, she would say the exact same thing. You did the only thing we could do given the circumstance, and nobody could have possibly seen this coming."

Amy glanced down at the ground, frowning.

"Amy, I want you to repeat after me." Lita gripped Amy's shoulders tightly, without hurting her. "Yesterday was not my fault."

"Yesterday was not my fault," Amy repeated, listlessly and without conviction.

"I did everything I could given what we knew," Lita continued.

"I did everything I could given what we knew."

"And I will not blame myself."

"And I will not blame myself."

"Good." Lita set her back down on the chair. "Now, what do we do?"

Amy sighed. "I'm decrypting the computer." She pointed at her cell phone. "When it goes into lockdown everything gets encrypted. If anyone tries to use it without my decryption key, the entire drive gets corrupted and nobody can access it. But it'll take a couple hours. After that, I suppose we'll...look at the tape, figure out what happened."

Suddenly, Amy's phone started vibrating. Everyone looked at it as Amy went up to it.

"It's Darien," she said. "Raye, you might want to get over here." She answered the call and put it on speaker as Raye ran over. "Darien, go ahead."

"Hey." He cleared his throat. "How's headquarters?"

"Everything's fine," Amy said quickly. "What about Serena?"

"She's stable."

Amy closed her eyes and heaved an enormous sigh of relief. Raye nearly collapsed into Lita's arms. Mina managed to crack a small smile.

"That's good, Darien," Amy said, a smile of her own managing to creep on her face. "Can you give us any details?"

"She...she woke up just a minute ago, and the doctor's say she's doing incredible. She's talking a bit and everything. She can't see visitors yet, but...they've tenatively agreed to let her family see her this afternoon in light of her incredible recovery speed. So I suppose you could probably come by after them."

"Okay...okay, we'll do that." Amy nodded. "You may want to make yourself scarce when her parents come by, Darien. It might look...suspicious."

"Of course," Darien answered. "So...Amy, when you come by, can we...can we talk?"

"Yes, Darien. I'll need your help with a couple of things when I get there as well." Amy put her finger over the screen. "Okay, I need to get some things ready, we'll talk later. Oh, and...your hand?"

"Already healed," he replied.

"I guessed as much," Amy mused. "Goodbye." She terminated the connection. "Okay. She's going to be fine. The scary part is behind us, she's going to be fine." She expelled another large breath, then turned to look at the other three girls. "Lita, you're right. I'm sorry about the self-pity party. You're...you're right, I did the best I could, and...me feeling sorry for myself does nothing. And if Serena's going to be okay, then...then the best thing I can do is put on a brave face, move past the incident, and learn from this." She nodded. "Yes, I feel...I feel much better now."

"That's right, Amy." Lita nodded, patting the back of Raye's head. "And Raye, the same goes for you."

Amy got up and peeled Raye off Lita. "Raye, yesterday wasn't your fault either."

Raye, however, wasn't quite ready to forgive herself, too encased in negative emotion.

"Yeah it was," she moaned. "You told me to provide support, and I wasn't fast enough! Now she's got a broken back, because I wasn't there for her!"

"Raye, you can't blame yourself for that, you did all you could," Amy comforted. "And Serena's going to be fine, you heard Darien."

"Y-yeah, but...what if she can never walk again or...what if her arm doesn't heal right?!" she shrieked, burying her face into her hands.

"Raye, that's not going to happen!" Amy said sternly. "She's Sailor Moon. Give her a couple weeks and she'll be right as rain!"

Raye dropped her hands, looking down at the ground. "Do you think she hates me?"

"No! Why would she hate you?"

"B-because I'm mean to her, a lot," Raye groaned. "Like...a lot."

"Raye. I can say this with one hundred percent certainty. Serena does _not_ hate you. In fact, she cares for you very much. And furthermore, she _will_ make a full recovery before you know it. So, if there's anything about the way you treat her that you feel guilty about, instead of sitting around and thinking about worst-case scenarios that aren't going to happen, you should spend your time thinking about what you're going to say to her the next time you see her!" Amy nodded with finality. "Now, we're going to go see her later today, and ask yourself if she would rather see you miserable, or see you happy."

Raye nodded. "Okay. Okay." She didn't look particularly cheery, and turned to walk back over towards the couches.

"The decryption should finish by...nine, maybe nine thirty," Amy announced as Lita and Mina followed Raye over. "Then I'll need some time to parse through the video and figure out what happened, but as soon as I do I'll call you guys over. Could you do me a favor and use the tarp from the door to cover the hole in the wall?"

"

**Headquarters, June 28th, 9:48 AM**

"Okay girls, I'm parsing through the video now. This'll take a minute, I'll call you over as soon as I find the relevant clip." Amy turned back towards the computer.

Raye was seated on the near couch, Mina and Lita on either side of her. She was still quite depressed, elbows on her knees and her head propped up in her hands. The two had been trying to talk her out of her sadness, but that proved to be a long and theraputic process.

"Remember the time I yelled at her because she ate one of my ramen packs?" Raye said, closing her eyes. "I mean, what kind of awful person yells at someone because they took a ramen pack?!"

"Now, now, Raye, I'll bet Serena doesn't even remember that..." Lita patted the back of her neck.

"Yes she does!" Raye moaned. "How could she not?! I yelled at her for like twenty minutes!" She put her hands out to her sides. "I mean, what's _wrong_ with me?! Ramen costs like sixty cents a pack! Who cares about a ramen pack?!" She buried her face back in her hands, sobbing again.

"W-well...Raye, yes...ramen costs sixty cents a pack..." Mina bit her inside cheek in thought. "B-but...remember, she took an egg too!"

Lita looked up from Raye and shot a glare at Mina out of the corner of her eyes.

"Y-yeah, maybe the ramen is only sixty cents, but then you add the egg, and you're talking...like, a dollar! I mean, that's a game changer, so..."

Lita gave Mina her very best dirty look, which Mina shrunk back from.

"Sorry!" Mina hissed quietly. "I'm trying!"

"Well...stop trying," Lita grunted.

Raye stopped sobbing, dropping her hands again. "I'll never be mean to her again." She looked down at the floor. "She...she can read all my comic books! And eat all my food! I don't care, I just want her to be okay!"

"Don't say that unless you really mean it," Luna chimed in from the coffee table. "Because she's going to be fine, so—"

"HOLY _SHIT!_"

The room fell deathly silent, the heads of three girls and two cats immediately spinning to stare over at the computer desk. Amy was sitting there, both of her hands clasped firmly over her mouth. Slowly, she spun around to look at the five, face red and eyes wide in embarrassment.

"Did...did she just—" Raye said, stunned out of her sadness for a moment.

"Yeah, I...think she did," Lita answered, staring at Amy unblinkingly.

"Alright." Mina got up and ran over to the computer, the other two girls and two cats following on her heels. "You know things are getting real when Amy starts swearing—"

Amy immediately dropped her hands from her mouth. "No I didn't," she said quickly, shaking her head and turning back to the computer.

"Yeah, Amy, you totally did—" Mina started.

"No I didn't!" she insisted, still shaking her head.

"Amy, you definitely did, and—" Lita began.

"No, no, nooooo, no I didn't," she continued desperately.

"Amy, no one cares," Lita insisted. "So what—"

"No, no, no, no, no, noooooooo." Amy's head was vibrating back and forth with great speed.

"Amy, it's fine," Mina said.

"Noooooo, noooooooo, nooooooooooo."

Lita couldn't help but give a tiny smirk. "Amy."

Finally, Amy sighed deeply, face still crimson. "You guys can't tell _anyone,_ okay? I'm serious."

"Okay, fine, we won't," Lita said, fighting back a small laugh. "Okay, what did you see?"

Amy quickly tapped the keyboard a few times to back the video up a few minutes, then pointed at two screens. "Okay. The left one is Serena's camera, and the right one is Darien's. They're synchronized. Darien got a great view of it from across the street." She hit the spacebar, and both videos started playing at half speed.

The six of them watched intently. Serena threw herself into Zoicite, slamming her into a pillar and beating her into it with a series of violent headbutts. Zoicite knocked her away, but Serena came right back to continue pummeling her. And then, she spun around and ran towards the opposite pillar, viciously beating it with her shoulder and fist.

"Wait..." Mina said slowly. "Is...is she..."

The pillar buckled over, Serena ducking underneath a blow and running to the center of the room. She grabbed Darien's short blade and jammed it into the ground, dodged a kick, then wrapped her good arm around Zoicite's neck to pin her.

"Wait a minute..." Lita said under her breath, putting two and two together in her head. The camera couldn't rotate upwards, so they couldn't see the ceiling, but the vibrating walls, the dusting of plaster, and the pillar destruction offered enough clues.

Zoicite fought and fought to break away from Serena's grasp, but it simply wasn't happening. It didn't make much sense, if any sense at all, but Serena wouldn't let her go. After several seconds, Zoicite visibly going from angry to terrified, Serena gave her one last mighty headbutt, then dashed out of the entrance to the bank.

Her camera didn't show it, but Darien's did. The entire bank structure collapsed inward, the pillarless lobby unable to support the weight. From Darien's point of view, they got a no-doubt-about-it angle of Zoicite, getting crushed by a sickening amount of weight, leaving no question that she wouldn't be bothering anyone anymore.

The girls stood there in complete silence, mouths agape and eyes wide.

"Oh my _God_," Raye gasped quietly, as Amy paused the video feed as Serena collapsed to the street.

"Darien's right...I wouldn't have believed him," Mina said.

"She...she dropped a _bank_ on her," Lita said weakly.

"That...that could not have been good for her back," Amy said timidly.

"Yeah, Amy, about that..." Raye turned to look at Amy. "I know you're only studying to be a doctor one day, but...can you explain to me how she did that with a broken back and one good arm?"

"No, I can't," Amy admitted. "It doesn't make any sense, sense has...has left the building on this one, I think. I don't often say this, but...I think the how doesn't matter. She did it, and she's going to be okay, and that's that."

Mina nodded. "Yeah, I...I like that."

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 28th, 3:30 PM**

Amy leaned forward and hugged Serena to the best of her abilities, being gentle and careful to avoid disturbing the cast or brace.

"Alright, Serena, we're going to head out now. But we'll be back soon and talk more. Okay?" Amy said, smiling and patting Serena's left hand. "It's so good to see you, I'm glad you're okay."

Serena nodded. "Thank you, that sounds nice." Her voice was quiet and soft, her energy levels still low as her body fought to quickly heal from the injuries she sustained. The girls had decided that, for now, they would avoid asking her any questions or talking to her at all about yesterday, instead just giving generic and simple affirmations of their affections for her to feel good about. There would be another day to inquire further.

"Keep on truckin'," Lita said, leaning in to softly cuff her head in her large right hand.

"Feel better," Mina chimed in, softly rubbing her palm on Serena's left hand.

"It's great to see you doing so well, Serena," Raye added, leaning in to nuzzle her cheek. Serena smiled, then sat back and closed her eyes.

"Great to see you all," she said as they departed.

The four left the room, Amy immediately turning to the right. Darien was sitting there in a small chair he had moved from the waiting room, just out of Serena's line of sight.

"Darien, let's find a private room, I require your help," Amy said quickly. Darien got up as Amy turned and headed down the hall. Darien peaked into the recovery room cautiously, seeing that Serena had laid her head back and closed her eyes, then quietly and quickly dashed across.

Amy peaked into a couple of small examination rooms, finally finding one that had been vacated. With a furtive glance about, she opened it and stepped in, holding the door open for Darien to follow. He did, silently closing the door behind her.

"Okay, Darien, I need an electronic signature from you," Amy said, opening her schoolbag and pulling her tablet out. "I'll handle the rest."

"What's this for?" Darien asked, taking the tablet.

"I've made an executive decision," Amy said. "We're going to make an anonymous donation of twenty five thousand dollars to Mister Tsukino. I did some poking around today, and confirmed that Serena's treatment is covered under his insurance policy through his job. It's a very nice insurance policy, but he'll still have to make co-pays and also handle some fees, so this should cover that."

"Okay," Darien said, punching in some input on the screen keyboard. "But you do understand that people don't just take twenty-five thousand dollar donations without having a lot of questions, right?"

"Yes, well...the circumstances surrounding what happened to Serena are mysterious, and must remain that way, so there's nobody they can sue or get a settlement from," Amy said. "So we have to do this. I'm going to make it look like it's from someone who feels responsible for what happened, but is too ashamed to come forward."

"Well, I'm sure...Mister Tsukino won't rest until he figures out who did it," Darien warned.

"Perhaps, but I've made sure it won't get traced back to us," Amy said. "It's the best we can do."

"And honestly, with the injuries she sustained, the settlement probably needs one or two more zeroes at the end of it," Darien pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm working within the bounds of what I have. Also, she's going to heal much faster than the average person, so it'll have to do. There will be money left over for him to spoil Serena rotten for the summer, which is ultimately what I want to come of this. She's earned it."

Darien handed the tablet back to Amy. "Hey, so...can we talk?" he asked timidly, putting his hands in his pockets and looking down.

"Okay," Amy replied, slipping her tablet back into her bag.

"So, did you...get a chance to see the tape?" He reached his right hand up to scratch the back of his head.

"Yes, I saw it this morning," Amy answered, setting the bag down on the floor.

"Okay...so..." his eyes darted along the floor for a couple seconds. "I...I feel bad now."

"Okay," Amy responded patiently.

"And...not just a little bad, like...a lot bad," he continued, putting his right hand back in his pocket. "I mean...have I been mean to her?"

Amy was silent, head craned up slightly to look at Darien's face.

"Amy?" he prompted.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was that not rhetorical?" she replied, just a touch of coldness in her words.

Darien grimaced, giving a tiny sigh. "Yeah, okay, so...I've been mean to her, and...now I feel bad. And I don't...usually feel bad about things. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Amy said slowly. "Someone who you've typically been pretty unkind to saved your life and then accomplished a nigh-impossible feat to save the day. Feeling bad about that set of circumstances is certainly something that would happen to...many people."

"Well, maybe it's how people feel, but it's not how I feel," Darien insisted, frowning.

Amy fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Well...maybe you're turning into people."

He jabbed his thumb up at his chest. "Well I don't wanna be people!"

"Is there a reason why you wanted to talk to me?" Amy asked. "This sounds like something you should talk to a psychologist about."

Darien squeezed his eyes shut again and shook his head back and forth a couple times. "Okay. Look. What do I do?"

"What do you mean, what do you do?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"I don't want to feel bad anymore, what do I do?" he asked.

"Darien, look. I'm sorry that you...grew a conscience all of a sudden, that must be very traumatic for you, but right now my best friend is in a hospital recovery room with a broken back and broken arm, so my sympathy reserves are a little low right now!"

"Yeah, I...understand." Darien glanced around the room.

"You need to talk to Serena about this," she said.

"Actually, Amy...kind of hoping to specifically...avoid that," he said awkwardly.

Amy blinked a couple times. "What?"

"Yeah, I just don't think anything good can come of that," he continued. "I mean, if you break down everything that goes into this entire situation, there's a lot of obstacles between me talking to Serena and anything positive coming out of it. So...maybe some other way?"

Amy glanced at the door behind her. "Wow. And people call me socially inept."

"Oh, really, they do?!" Darien snapped. "I wonder where they get _that_ idea from!"

Amy narrowed her eyes into two angry slits, focusing a dirty glare at Darien for a second, before turning around and reaching to grab the doorknob.

"Wait, wait!" Darien said, reaching forward to grab her left forearm. "Sorry, sorry, that was rude, I shouldn't have said that...but can't you help me with this?"

"No, Darien." Amy turned back to look at him. "This is between you and her, and you're going to have to go outside your comfort zone if you want to make this right. Guilt can not be surgically removed."

"Can't you...talk to her for me?!" he pleaded. "I mean, she likes you a lot, and I think you could probably...phrase it in a better way. I just...want some kind of buffer between me and her."

Amy closed her eyes in exasperation, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you...scared of her?"

"No!" he insisted. Silence hung in the air for a second. "Okay, maybe by...some definition of the term, it could be argued. Look, can you please do something to help me? Anything?"

Amy rolled her eyes, then slowly pointed her right index finger at Darien's left arm. She then made a beckoning motion towards her. Slowly, Darien extended his left hand towards her. She took it, grabbed the sleeve of his green blazer, and pulled it up four inches to expose his wrist and upper forearm.

She started tracing her left index finger along the skin of his forearm.

"Circle, circle, dot, dot, now you have your cootie shot," she recited, as dryly and sarcastically as she could possibly manage. With that, she bent down, grabbed her bag, turned away, and opened the door back out into the hall. Darien glared at her back as she left, dropping his arm limply back to his side.

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 28th, 7:30 PM**

Taking a deep breath, Darien pushed the glass door to the recovery room open. Serena rotated her head over lazily, visibly not pleased with what she saw.

"Heeeeyyyyy," he started awkwardly, waving his right hand at her. "Uh...so..." he pointed at the cast. "Did...did that hurt? Because it looked like it kind of hurt."

Serena turned away from him, looking at the far wall, a rattled little sigh emitting from her lips.

"Uh...look, Serena, I've...I've been thinking, and..."

Slowly, Serena turned her head back to look at him, still scowling, but at least listening.

"And...look." He scratched the back of his head. "You've said mean things to me, I've said mean things to you...and instead of...y'know, revisiting all that in detail, what do you say we just...y'know...let bygones...be gone...by the wayside...and hit the reset button?"

Serena's shoulders sagged slightly, her glare intensified for a brief moment and she turned away from him again, staring intently at a blank spot on the wall without a peep.

"Serena?" Darien asked, looking at her, then walking around the bed to the far side. "Serena, I asked you a question, not responding is rude, so—"

She turned back the other way, looking at the opposite wall, out the glass pane that made up the door. He stopped, looking at her.

"Oh. The silent treatment?" He gave a small little throat laugh. "Really? What, are you six years old?"

Serena reached over with her left hand towards a remote with a large red button on the bedside table. Immediately, Darien jumped forward, palms held out towards her.

"Serena, Serena, no, listen to me!" he whispered. She paused, finger poised over the button. "I'm here to protect you, you can't have me kicked out! There could be a follow-up attack, you can't defend yourself, I need to be here to protect you!"

She froze there for several seconds, staring at him with hatred, considering her next move. Finally, reluctantly, she pulled her finger away from the button and set her hand back down at her side.

"Uh...so...last night...pretty good job! I mean, I could have done without the...tens of millions of dollars in collateral damage, but...hey, given the circumstances, you did okay!" He pointed at her, smiling awkwardly. She turned her head to glare at him, then turned back to the door.

"Okay, Serena. No problem." He sat down on a chair in the corner of the room. "Well, I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you. Gonna have to talk to me eventually."

She reached over and grabbed a different remote, small and black, and turned the television above her head on.

"Oh, you're gonna pick basic cable over me?" he asked, smirking awkwardly. "Wow, that...that cuts me deep, Serena."

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 29th, 2:01 PM**

"I thought you broke your hand."

Andrew pointed down at Darien's two hands, both clearly not broken and doing quite well. Darien looked down at them.

"Uh...no, you...must have heard wrong," Darien said awkwardly.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." The two were sitting in the waiting room, in the corner, as far away from the other assorted concerned people as possible. Andrew had a small giftwrapped box tucked underneath his arm. "You wanna...head out a little later, go do something? I mean, the whole city's a mess, but we could go to your place and—"

"No, I...I can't leave," Darien said. "There's...there's someone else here, I...can't leave."

"Oh." Andrew glanced about, biting his lower lip. "Uh...might I ask who?"

Darien thought for a moment, tempted to give a gruff 'none of your business' reply. But after contemplating it, he sighed. "Serena."

"Wow," Andrew breathed. "Uh, okay, you said it, not me. And I'm shutting up now." He looked away.

"No, Andrew, it's fine," he grumbled.

"No, no, lips are sealed," Andrew said quickly.

"Andrew, it's okay!" he snapped. "Just...go ahead, make your jokes, whatever, I don't care."

"Well, you threatened to shove a drinking straw up my dickhole!" Andrew hissed. "Which, again, ew!"

"I can't tell you why, Andrew, so just don't ask, but...things have changed a little bit," he admitted begrudgingly. "It's not...that, but...I can't talk about it."

"I understand," Andrew said. He pulled the box out from underneath his arm. "I actually brought this for her, I heard it's...pretty bad."

"Well, she's a trooper, she'll be fine," Darien said.

"Wait, you've been...sleeping here?" Andrew asked.

"Yup."

"Huh." Andrew nodded to himself. "Okay then. Anyway, after I give this to her, I'm outta here, so...you want me to pick you up some food? If you can't leave. I mean, hospital food..."

"It's fine." Darien swallowed down hard. "Wait, wait...actually...there's one thing you can get me."

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 29th, 2:48 PM**

Darien pushed the door to the recovery room open, holding a large pudding cup in his right hand along with a small plastic spoon.

"Hey, Serena!"

Serena glanced over to him, rolled her eyes, then resumed staring at the wall across from her. Darien was unfazed, however, and walked right up to her.

"So, uh...remember a couple months ago when I...I took one of your pudding cups?" he asked, trying to smile warmly. "Yeah, remember that?"

She didn't respond, continuing to glare at the wall.

"Yeah, that...that was wrong of me. I shouldn't have done that. I had no right to your pudding cup. So...I got you a new one!" He held the cup up in front of him. She glanced at it for a split second before turning her gaze back to the wall.

"Yeah, and look!" He tilted it downward, showing her the top, still covered by the piece of tin. "It's sixty-six percent bigger than a regular one! So, really, you've come out ahead! Also, if you will remember, I ate mine _without_ a spoon! And, as you can see here, I have provided you a spoon!" He brandished the piece of plastic cutlery at her. "So...you are just...moving on up, really."

Still nothing from her.

"And, okay, okay. I know your dominant hand is broken right now, so, your choice. Either I hold the cup for you while you use your left hand to scoop the pudding out, or I will feed it to you!" He pulled the top off, peeling the tin back and offering it to her. "Your choice, it's totally up to you—"

Serena lashed her left hand out, smacking her fist on top of Darien's hand without turning to look at him. He dropped the cup, watching it fall to the ground and splatter onto the floor, the pudding pouring out underneath her bed.

"OH, oh, is that what you want?!" he yelled, pointing down at the mess and glowering at her.

Serena didn't turn to look at him, eyes straight ahead of her.

"BECAUSE _THAT'S_ HOW YOU GET ANTS!" he bellowed.

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 29th, 3:01 PM**

Darien leaned up against the wall right by the door to Serena's room, hands deep in his pockets, hunched over and pouting.

"Oooh."

He glanced up to find a male nurse, wearing a blue tunic, coming down the hall towards him. Short and blond with a small mustache.

"If you havin' girl problems, I feel bad for you son," he said, smirking and pointing at Darien.

"Go away," he grunted, looking down at the floor.

"Hey, man, I'm just trying to sympathize with your plight, don't get mad at me." He stopped next to him, still smirking.

"Yeeeaaahhhh, go away," Darien repeated.

"So, uh...pretty deep in the doghouse?" he asked, chuckling to himself.

"Still go away," Darien said warningly.

"Let me guess," he began. "She was near the bank when it collapsed because you told her to be, and now she blames you for her injuries!"

Darien balled his hands inside his pockets into little fists. "D-don't you have...bedpans to clean, or something?!"

It didn't help that he was at least a little right.

"Yes, I do," he admitted. "_However_, when my shift ends tonight, at least I can go home and get laid." He peaked into Serena's room through the glass door. "Bet her legs are gonna be welded shut for at least a year after this. Hope you know some good call girls."

Darien closed his eyes in frustration, then opened them again. "Okay, A, she's not my girlfriend, so shut up! B, she's fourteen, so ew!"

"Oh," the nurse said, face falling slightly. "Well, she doesn't...look fourteen." He saw the pudding puddle on the floor of the room. "What's up with the pudding?"

"I bought her a pudding cup, and she didn't want it," Darien said through gritted teeth.

"Oh. Well, someone should clean it up. That's how you get ants." With that, he turned away and kept walking down the hall.

"Yeah, someone should clean it up!" Darien said, putting his hand up by the side of his mouth. "Like, say, a hospital employee! Maybe a nurse!"

He didn't turn around and kept on walking.

"Yeah, that's right! Pretend you can't hear me! Keep walking!" Darien leaned back up against the wall. "Like _that _guy's getting anything from a woman either..." he grumbled under his breath.

"Mister Shields!"

Darien turned to look down the other direction of the hallway, a doctor with a familiar horseshoe hairstyle running down it frantically, holding a thin tube with a needle poking out of one of the ends, with a glass bottle on the other.

"Mister Shields, we need your help immediately! We just had a critical patient come in and we're all out of blood, we need some of yours right now!" He ran forward, holding the needle out towards him. "Please, let me just—"

Darien held his hand out towards him, palm out, forcing him to stop just in front of him. "Go away."

The doctor sighed in desparation. "Mister Shields, he's going to die if he doesn't get—"

"What's my blood type?" Darien asked, glowering at the doctor.

"Oh. Uh..." he reached into his chest pocket. "Well, hold on, I have it written down here somewhere—"

"Go away," Darien ordered, leaning back up against the wall.

The doctor pulled his finger out of his chest pocket. "Okay, okay, I shouldn't have lied, Mister Shields, but you have no idea how—"

Darien leaned into his face. "GO. AWAY."

The doctor slumped his head over, turning around, and slowly walked away, sighing. Darien glanced around furtively.

"Maybe I _don't_ want to become a doctor," he muttered to himself. "If all my co-workers are gonna be dicks."

"

AN: I finished this chapter much sooner than expected because I've been very stressed out lately for assorted reasons and writing helps me cope, so I was able to grind this out very quickly.

Also, I've been planning this chapter for weeks so I knew exactly what it was going to be when I started it, which helps.

To that end, I expect the next chapter to be up quickly, although it's hard to say.


	20. Still A Douche

Chapter 20: Still A Douche

AN: I wrote about 1500-1800 words of this chapter that I lost and had to rewrite, so hopefully I still get what I want from it. Hate it when that happens.

This is going to be a megasized chapter. Mainly because it's at the rough midpoint of the fic so I want to blow it up and make it a bit of a spectacle, like a special one-hour long episode of a show that is typically a half-hour, or a holiday special (and this chapter is a holiday special of sorts for soon-to-be obvious reasons).

I also want to settle this sequence so I can get back to the main plot and main theme of the fic by chapter 21. I like writing this stuff, and it's all important, but I have a central theme to return to and I'm better served by returning to it as soon as possible. And that's best serviced by blowing this chapter up so I can get back to it by 21.

Also because I couldn't find a good breaking point in all of this.

It works out because Chapter 10 ended up being a bigger than usual chapter as well, in size and scope, so it could be said that I'm having a jumbo chapter every 10 chapters.

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 30th, 2:23 PM**

Cautiously, Darien inched his head to the right, slowly peaking into the recovery room through the glass door, trying to gauge if Serena might see him or not. As he carefully brought the hospital bed into his view, he was quite taken aback by what he saw.

"Whoa."

The entire half of the room, around the bed, was absolutely covered with large flower baskets, every color you could imagine blooming from assorted stems. Outside of a thin path that would allow someone to get to her left side, the entire floor was taken up. The right bedside table was similarly layered in floral decorations, and the left table had stacks and stacks of boxes piled up. Serena had her eyes closed, so he got a chance to look at the boxes. Toys and sweets of all kinds. He saw a couple of magazines and books underneath the boxes. Out of the corner of his eye, in the far corner on the chair, and saw a massive pile of torn wrapping paper sitting there. Finally, he saw at least a dozen balloons, tied to the knobs on the bedside tables, just a couple inches short of the ceiling. He looked up at them, reading generic 'get well soon' type messages on them, but a couple of them offered up an additional explanation.

_Happy Birthday_

"Birthday?" he muttered to himself, swinging himself out of the way of the door, pressing his back to the wall, forehead wrinkled. "Birthday...wow, that's...that's terrible." He pursed his lips. "Okay, okay...come on Shields, you can use this somehow!"

He racked his brain for an idea, closing his eyes.

"Okay...okay...I can't leave the hospital...so...what's in a hospital...come on, what's in a hospital...wait...yes, that's it, I can—"

"Ahem."

Darien looked to his right, stomach lurching. Three people were standing there. A bespeckled man with short black hair, a woman with long blue hair, and a pre-teen blonde boy. All three were carrying wrapped parcels. The man approached him, frowning.

"O-oh, I..." Darien said nervously, glancing the other way.

"Do you...do you have some sort of business with my daughter?" Kenji asked, eyes narrowing from behind his glasses.

"Uh...no, I'm...I'm just...playing tag!" he said quickly, looking back at him. "You know...a game of hospital tag! And I'm it, so—"

"Hospital tag?" Kenji repeated.

"Y-yeah, with a bunch of the...other recovered patients, to...celebrate our recovery!" Darien continued, tugging at the collar of his undershirt. "And I'm it, so have you seen—"

"I will ask you only once," Kenji menaced. "Stay away from my—"

Darien lightly tapped Kenji on the shoulder. "TAG YOU'RE IT!" He spun around and sprinted down the hallway, narrowing dodging running right into a hospital volunteer emerging from a side room before disappearing.

Kenji glared after Darien's retreating back. "I'll have to have a talk with the hospital staff about allowing heroin addicts so close to my daughter," he grumbled.

"My money's on meth," Sammy said quietly as he went to open the door.

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 30th, 2:50 PM**

"I'm going to find this person," Kenji grunted, holding his phone in his right hand and looking down at the screen. He was squeezing the device quite tightly in his hands. "If this guy thinks he can almost kill my daughter and then just drop twenty five grand on me and that makes it okay, then he's got another thing coming—"

"Papa, nobody almost killed me!" Serena insisted, looking at the box to a massive dollhouse that her mother had placed in her lap after helping her open it. "I was too close to the bank when it collapsed, that's all, total fluke, nobody's to blame!"

"Yes, well...someone seems to feel responsible," he muttered. "Serena, do you have any idea who might have done this? You don't make a twenty-five thousand dollar donation to someone for no reason."

Serena shrugged. "It was a bank, a lot of very rich people hanging around there, pick any of em. There was a lot of chaos, a lot of shoving, maybe someone who tripped me or pushed me. I mean, I definitely got jostled around a bit, you could argue that if it wasn't for all of that I could have gotten further away from the bank, so...something like that, maybe?"

"Serena, dear, please try to concentrate," Kenji pleaded. "Just...a face, clothes, anything that might—"

"Honey, stop stressing her out," Ikuko said, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him away from Serena. "She's still recovering."

Kenji sighed. "Alright. We'll revisit this later."

"And let's be grateful for what we got!" Serena added. "I mean, twenty-five large is appreciated at a time like this, it's better than nothing. The incident at the bank was an unfortunate fluke, but someone clearly feels bad enough to help out, so let's just be grateful for that."

"Why were you in that part of town anyway?" Ikuko asked, examining one of the flower baskets. "Rather late at night."

"I was volunteering at the animal shelter," she said evenly, the practiced lie coming out easily. "We got a late flood of strays right before I was going to head out and I didn't have the heart to leave, so...I hung around for a couple extra hours. Was heading to catch the bus when...well, yeah."

"I'm starting to think we should just move," Kenji said. "So many mysterious attacks, an absurd amount of destruction...this city is cursed."

"N-no, papa, we can't move, okay?!" Serena said frantically. "I...I belong here, all my friends are here, please, we can't move!"

"Dear, you're stressing her out again," Ikuko said warningly. "Honey, we won't move, don't worry."

"You know the doctors are freaking out about you, right?" Sammy said, setting a large book with a shimmering front cover down on the table by Serena's head. "Seriously, they think you're some kind of...X-man."

"Wouldn't it be X-woman?" Serena asked, smirking over at Sammy. "Or at least X-person?"

"No." Sammy shrugged. "There are women in the X-men and they're still just called the X-men. I don't get it either."

"Yes, honey, they're...pretty excited," Ikuko agreed. "Any ideas?"

"I guess I'm just...really, really lucky," Serena said.

"I suppose so," Kenji conceded. "Well, alright...I suppose we should let you rest." He got up, stepped through the flower baskets, and hugged her, kissing her forehead. "The doctors think you'll be out of here any day now."

After he moved back to the other side of the room, Ikuko retraced his steps and gave her a similar affectionate hug and kiss. "Just wait until you see what we have waiting for you at home," she whispered, winking.

"Uh..." Sammy looked around the room. "Can...can you guys leave?"

Ikuko gave a tiny laugh. "Okay, okay..." The two elders left the room, leaving the siblings together. He went through the path on the floor.

"D-don't tell anyone, okay?" he said awkwardly, then leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"Okay, I won't," she chuckled, reaching up to pat the back of his head.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said quietly.

"Thank you for the Sailor V artbook," she said, glancing over at the book on the table. "It's beautiful."

"No problem." He turned the leave the room, glancing momentarily underneath the bed and catching a soupy pudding pile with his eye. "Oh, and you should clean that up." He pointed down at the pudding as he headed towards the door. "That's how you get ants."

"I'll get right on that," Serena said sarcastically, still smiling as Sammy opened the door and disappeared. A second later, the door opened again and Kenji poked his head through.

"Oh, and Serena...there's some crackhead running around here, hideous green blazer, do you...know him by any chance?" he asked.

"Oh." Serena's smile immediately faded. "Yeah, I know who you're..." she paused for a moment, aware that she had to make sure that this didn't end with Darien getting kicked out of the hospital. "He's...he's not a crackhead, he's just weird. Don't worry, he's harmless."

"Uh-huh," Kenji said slowly. "Okay then." He pulled his head back and closed the door.

**Lakeview Hospital, June 30th, 4:03 PM**

Darien took in a deep breath, then looked down at the massive waffle ice cream cone with three giant scoops of vanilla ice cream in his right hand. With a little shake of his head, he pushed the glass door open and walked towards the bed. Serena turned to look at him, eyes immediately narrowing.

"Well, look who managed to survive another one of earth's rotations around the sun!" he said cheerfully, holding the big ice cream cone out towards her. He stepped down the narrow path between the flowers. She closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth slowly in exasperation.

"You know, I didn't know you were friends with John Bartram!" he said, looking around at all of the floral arrangements. "You know, the...botanist?"

Serena opened her eyes slightly, staring at the wall across from her, scowling.

"Serena, look, I brought you ice cream." He extended the cone out towards her. "Which I know for a fact is your favorite. And look, three scoops. They wanted to give me one, and then they tried to appease me with two, but I just knew that you'd want me to push for a third, so I refused to leave until I got it! And, I know it's getting close to dinner time and this might spoil your appetite, but I won't tell anyone if you won't!"

She didn't move, giving him a tiny sideways glance before resuming her staring contest with the wall.

"Serena, I promise I didn't touch it!" Darien insisted. "Look, I have a napkin between my hand and the cone, and...you know I wouldn't...lick it or anything...okay, I would, but I didn't! I promise! It's your favorite, just take it!"

Finally, reluctantly, she reached her left hand out towards him, holding her thumb and index fingers together to make a small little circle. He slid the tip of the cone into her hand. She took it towards her and started to lick the side of it.

"Okay, wait." Darien stared at her for a second as she licked the ice cream up. "You're...you're going to take it, but you still won't talk to me. Wow, okay."

She kept on quickly lapping up the sides of the cream, rotating it around in her hands every few licks.

"Come on, Serena, it took me like five minutes to convince them to add the third scoop, so I think you owe it to me to at least say something." Darien put his hands out at his sides. "Uh...look, Serena..." he scratched the back of his head. "I haven't said it yet, so...I appreciate you...saving my life the other day."

Serena paused for a second, turning to look up at him.

"Yeah, that...that was great, in fact, I'm willing to say we're even for the...fifty times I've saved your life in the past year."

Serena gave an annoyed sigh, then turned back to her ice cream cone. Darien pressed his fist up to his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Okay, okay, that was...I shouldn't have said that, but..." he glared down at her. "Look, can you please just say something? This is...really hard without some feedback from you!"

Silence.

"Serena, come on, please? Just...just say something!" he pleaded.

Serena dropped the cone a couple inches from her mouth, still looking straight ahead.

"Something."

She resumed running her tongue along the cold cream.

Darien sighed. "Serena, I'm not leaving until you talk to me, and frankly, I brought you ice cream, so I think you owe it to me! Talk to me!"

Serena stuck the cone out to her left, ramming the head of it right into the center of Darien's chest, pressing the cold cream into his black undershirt and holding it there for a second before letting it drop. Darien watched it fall to the floor, shatter on impact, and join the pudding.

She whipped her head around to look at him, scowling deeply, eyes fiery.

"Jump up your own ass and _die_!" she snarled, each word slow and deliberate.

Darien reeled back in mild shock for a second, expression one of fear, before his well-worn defense mechanism kicked in and he scowled.

"Oh. Oh, is that the way it's going to be?" he snapped. "Well, fine, Serena, I don't care what you think about me!" He turned around, walking down the thin path through the flowers and towards the door. "Oh, and by the way, I lied! I'm not here to protect you, I'm just here trying to bang a candy striper!" He pushed the door open, storming out into the hall. "So _you_ can just go—"

"So..."

Darien stopped a few steps out into the hall, the glass door swinging shut behind him. Amy, Raye, Lita and Mina were standing there, all holding various shaped boxes in wrapping paper.

"Eugh," he grumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets and looking down at the ground.

"How's this going?" Mina asked, a knowing smile on her face.

"Not great," he sulked.

"I wonder why," she added sarcastically.

"Hey, I am trying _way_ harder than she is!" he grunted, pointing at the door. "She won't even talk to me!"

"Huh," Lita mused. "Really?"

"Well...basically, yeah, she...she won't talk to me," Darien moaned, shoulders slumping over.

"Kind of surprising, she loves talking to you so much typically," Mina said. "I mean, mile a minute. It's almost as if...something happened recently, that might have...pushed her over an edge...wonder what that could have been?" She looked at Darien expectantly. "But I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that?"

"Darien, if you could just fill us in here, that would be great," Lita added.

Darien sighed. "Okay. Mina, you can...you can laugh in my face any time you want." He closed his eyes, frowning.

"Pass," Mina said, coming up and patting him on the shoulder. "Because I'm just that nice a person."

"Okay, so...maybe, a couple weeks ago on stakeout, she...maybe, tried to be nice to me a little bit," Darien admitted. "And then, maybe last week I...maybe, sort of...did something really mean to her for no good reason? I'd rather not say more."

"Ooooooooh, that's bad," Lita said, coming up to pat his other shoulder, a little smile on her face. "Yeah, that...that would explain a bit of that."

"Right. Right." He turned back around. "Okay, I...I need to go apologize—"

Amy reached forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Maybe not right now."

Darien turned back to look at her.

"Let's consider a few things," Amy said. "One, she's suffered a very traumatic injury and her body is still recovering from it, which is probably having all sorts of unintended side effects. Her hormones are probably unhappy, which affects her mood. So, perhaps if you wait until after she's out of the hospital, you'll get her slightly more receptive to hearing what you have to say."

Darien nodded. "Okay, that...makes sense."

"Furthermore, she's currently in the hospital because of injuries she sustained fighting Zoicite, a lot of which would have been much more limited had you managed to successfully defeat her. Indirectly, your failure has made her situation much worse."

"Hey, that's not my fault!" Darien insisted, putting his hands out defensively.

"It's not not your fault," Lita countered slyly.

"You...you don't think she...blames me for that, do you?" Darien looked down sadly. "I mean, I really did...give it my all, she...she got the best of me. She was quicker than last time, more measured, I wasn't ready for it." He closed his eyes. "Is she...mad at me for that?"

"Well, it can't help," Mina chimed in. "But she'll be more reasonable about it after she's out of here."

"Third...today is her birthday," Amy continued. "Perhaps she doesn't want to deal with it right now."

"Yeah, I know it's her birthday," Darien grunted. "And I got her a giant ice cream cone, so—"

"It's a hospital, idiot," Lita deadpanned. "They have unlimited ice cream for all recovering patients."

"Yeah, but I had to bring it to her!" Darien insisted. "I mean...she couldn't have gotten it, she's crippled. And it was a big ice cream!"

"Wow." Lita rolled her eyes.

"Fourth, you two have been going at it for almost nine months now, so I think you have a lot to apologize for if you want to move past this. Maybe too much for you to just do it off the top of your head."

Darien shook his head. "You know, I'm not denying I've been mean to her...but she's been mean to me plenty! It was a back and forth thing, so...why do I have to do all the work?"

"Because you started it," Raye said simply.

"H-how would you even know that?!" Darien stuck his hands back in his pockets. "Why, it has to be me because I'm the guy?! That's just typical feminist bullsh—"

"Darien." Lita took her hand off his shoulder. "Let me put it this way. In one corner, we have Serena. She's friends with about eighty percent of the students at her school, has the appreciation of countless other humans and animals across the city for her volunteer work, and managed to bring a crew of five girls as mismatched as us together."

"And in the other corner, we have...you," Mina finished. "So. If you two don't get along, who's to blame?"

Darien glanced around, chewing his inside cheek. "Yeah, point taken."

Lita nodded. "And just to hammer that point home, today is her birthday. Now, you've seen her recovery room, of course."

"Yeah," Darien conceded. "I've...I've seen it. She looks like a...princess in her throne room."

"Even though this city has been ravaged by the negaverse, billions of dollars in damage done, look at all the people who still took time out of their lives to come here with well-wishes and kind offerings," Mina picked up from Lita's starting point. "Now, for comparison sake, what did you do for your most recent birthday?"

Darien glanced around. "Yeah, I get the point, we can—"

"Come on Darien. Spit it out," Mina goaded.

Darien sighed. "Andrew got me some blu-rays and I...masturbated a lot," he said in a low voice.

Amy wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"And I had ghetto spaghetti for dinner."

"Ghetto spaghetti?" Raye repeated.

"Ramen and ketchup," he grumbled. "I...forgot to go shopping the day before. Yeah, okay, I get it!"

"So, Darien, you wanted my help, there is my advice," Amy said. "Think about what you want to say for a couple days and let her get back on her feet. We just spoke to the doctor, and he believes that she'll be out of here tomorrow."

"Good," Darien said. "Neither of us are safe right now." He cast a quick look around the hall. "I'm worried I'm gonna wake up one morning and my kidney's gonna be gone. Or I'll be chained to a bed in a basement."

"Eh?" Mina prompted.

"There's a creeper doctor running around here," he said suspiciously. "He wants to...harvest me. I think he wants to breed me with Serena, we both need to get far away from this place."

"Yeah, I actually have some concerns about that," Raye mused. "I mean, these doctors are all in an uproar over Serena being some sort of missing link, what if it ends up breaking our masquerade?"

"Well, they can't do anything without Serena's approval, which she won't be giving," Amy said. "I'll admit, I didn't want them to ever figure out this much, but all she has to do is say no."

"Couldn't they like...forcibly detain her in a labratory or something?" Mina asked tenatively.

"Wh-no, they can't forcibly detain her in a labratory!" Darien snapped.

"What country do you think we live in?" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow at Mina.

"Good question," Mina said, shrugging. "I mean, it's pretty confusing."

"Well...no, they can't," Amy said. "And if they tried, we'd just have to find the labratory and rip it apart until we get her back, and that's assuming they'd even be capable of detaining her at all, so we'll manage."

"Alright girls, let's go see her," Raye said. "And Darien...do you want her to accept your apology?"

"Yes, of course," Darien said.

"Well, then you actually have to apologize first. Just put some real thought into it." Raye and Amy strided over to the glass door, pushing it open and entering the room. "If you do a good job, I might even help you out a bit. I...myself, have some things to say to her when she gets out, we'll go together."

"Humble yourself," Mina said. "She'll respond to you if you're genuine, trust me, I know her. She wants to like you, but you've gotta work to get through some of the barriers you've put up for her. She might say some mean things to you, but you're gonna have to just take it on the chin and not snap back at her, it's the only way. I'll put in a good word for you. Don't know why I'm helping you...but I will. Must be the abs." She patted Darien's stomach area before walking over to the door and joining Amy and Raye within the chamber.

"And, if all else fails, a nice pair of kneepads never hurt," Lita said, winking.

Darien's shoulders sagged and he frowned, slumping over slightly.

"And get that cleaned up," she added, pointing at the ice cream stain on his undershirt, then turning to join her friends.

"

**Lakeview Hospital, June 30th, 4:31 PM**

"Amy, you don't have to worry about that, just leave it."

Amy had moved some of the flower baskets out of the way, and was down on her hands and knees with a big bundle of paper towels, slowly wiping up the pudding and melted ice cream.

"Well, someone needs to, it's starting to smell bad," she insisted. "Besides, that's how you get ants."

Serena held the thin pink dress up in her left hand, then gently set it down in her lap. "Well, thank you Mina, it's beautiful. She leaned back and looked at her four friends. "Thank you, everyone, it...it really helps me feel better."

"You deserve every bit of it," Raye said softly. "I mean...what you did the other day..."

"Yeah. Dropping a bank on Zoicite?" Mina agreed. "I mean...I almost felt bad for her."

Everyone in the room paused and turned to stare at Mina, who furtively glanced around at the judgemental pairs of eyes.

"I said almost!" she insisted.

"Right..." Raye rolled her eyes. "But seriously, Serena, absolutely amazing...talk about refusing to accept failure as an option."

Serena chuckled. "Silly phrase."

"Hm?" Raye prompted.

"Failure not being an option," Serena said quietly. "Doesn't make any sense. It's like...flipping a coin and saying that tails is not an option. Believe me, Raye. In that bank, doing those things, I was constantly aware of the possibility of failure. High possibility of failure, even. Failure is always an option." She sighed. "All I did back there was...refuse to care that failure was an option."

Silence hung in the air for a second.

Lita pointed at the IV bag above Serena's head, which trailed a thin tube down to a needle in her upper left arm. "Painkillers got you feelin' all philosophical?"

"Oh my god, YES!" Serena enthused. "Remind me to ask the doctors for a few of these bags when I leave, whatever is in there is AMAZING!"

Amy finally got up, carrying the bundle of soiled towels over to the trash can in the corner. "That would fall under improper use of medical supplies, I'm afraid."

"Oh come on, it's my birthday!" Serena joked, smirking.

"Well, I'm glad you like the dress," Mina said. She then turned her head to glance out the glass door. She could just barely see the tip of Darien's shoe. He was still standing there, leaning up against the wall. "Hey, so...I know it's a sore subject, but I just want you to know...Darien—"

"Aaaand the one thing that could override the painkillers," Serena grunted, smile immediately fading from her face.

"Serena, I just want to tell you something, just so you know." Mina timidly rubbed her right arm with her left hand. "He...he hasn't left the hospital once since you guys got here. Has not exited the building for so much as a second."

"Okay? Uh, noted."

"And...we offered more than once to trade places with him. He declined." Mina shrugged.

"Well, happy birthday to me," Serena replied sarcastically.

"Serena, I know he's not...good at communicating it, but...for whatever it's worth, I do think he really does feel bad, and I think he's really sorry," Mina offered.

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't be saying that if you were here when he tried to apologize," Serena said dismissvely.

"So he...did try?" Mina asked.

"In much the same way that a...goldfish would try to kick a soccer ball," she answered. "Now, I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, okay. We'll talk about...anything you want to talk about." Mina nodded quickly.

Serena laid her head back on her pillow. "Let's talk business." She beckoned Amy to get closer, and she complied by leaning her head in towards her. "You said something about the negaverse tracking our location?"

"Ah, yes," Amy whispered, all the four other girls leaning in to hear. "I was able to figure that out. They figured out who we were by watching our stakeouts, and then they used a cloaked set of satellites they put in orbit to track our movements."

"Sounds like a problem that won't go away anytime soon," Lita said darkly.

"Yeah, gonna be tough to go up there and get rid of them," Mina agreed.

"Ohhh...it's been handled," Amy said sheepishly, cheeks going slightly red.

Everyone stared at her for a second.

"Amy—" Serena began.

"The how doesn't matter, let's just move on!" she squeaked, looking down at the floor.

"Amy..." Raye said in a singsong voice.

Amy sighed, face heating up. "Ohhh..._someone_ hacked into a large radio emitter and used it scramble the satellites cloaking so they popped up on radar."

All the other pairs of eyes in the room remained on her, Amy wilting slightly under the gazes.

"And then...someone sent NASA an anonymous tip that the satellites were relics of the old USSR space program that utilized experimental stealth technology that finally just gave out," she continued bashfully.

Nobody dropped their stares, making it quite clear that Amy wasn't getting out of this.

"And...then, maybe someone used the radio emitter to scramble NASA radar and make it look like the satellites were filled with air-to-surface cruise missiles, dormant but programmed to launch at major American cities when the button gets pushed." Amy looked like she wanted to shrink into the floor. Slowly, she pulled her cell phone out and looked at it. "The American President should be signing off on a strike right now. Those satellites will be space debris in...two hours, maybe three."

Several seconds of silence.

"Wow." Raye said quietly.

"And you tried to give me a lecture about the legality of a tontine," Lita said, giving a tiny smirk.

"Yeah, Amy, what would you call all of that besides extremely and painfully illegal?" Mina goaded, grinning.

Amy finally looked up. "Honestly?" She pursed her lips. "Kind of...exciting?" She couldn't keep a tiny smile off her face.

Serena chuckled a few times. "If these negaverse guys really understood who they were messing with, they'd just give up." She cleared her throat. "Okay, next item of business. Headquarters. Fill me in."

"Everything's safe," Amy said, color leaving her face slowly. "There's a hole in the wall that I'll get patched up, but all the equipment is still there."

"How did you manage that?" Serena asked.

"Oh, just wait until you see what she did," Mina whispered. "It's at least thirty percent as amazing as what you did."

"Yes, Amy. You have to show me," Serena agreed quickly. "Does the fight look good on camera?"

"Oh, just amazing," Lita said, nodding. "We'll be watching that one forever. Just shocking."

Mina leaned in closer, cupping her hand over her mouth. "Amy said a bad word when she saw it," she giggled.

"Mina!" Amy gasped. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" The crimson returned to her face in full.

"No, Lita said that," Mina pointed out. "And Serena doesn't count."

"Wait, Amy said a bad word?!" Serena pointed at Amy. "Man, the things I miss when I'm in the hospital!"

"Yeah, she totally dropped the s-bomb when she saw you crush Zoicite," Mina continued, laughing quietly. "Like, really loud too."

Amy crossed her arms over her chest tightly. "You people are a bad influence on me!" she pouted. "This kind of thing never happened before I met you four!"

"Wait." Raye raised an eyebrow. "So saying a bad word is worse than tricking a global superpower into spending millions on a missile launch on a target that doesn't actually pose any threat to them?"

Amy's eyes darted around for a moment, a scowl still on her face. "It...it could be argued—"

"Oh, come on, Amy, it's not a big deal!" Mina insisted, coming over and patting her shoulder.

Amy turned to look at her, eyes narrowing. "This is all _your_ fault!"

"H-how is this even remotely my—"

"_You _taught me that word!" Amy snapped, arms tightening around her chest, still scowling.

"W-what, no I didn't—" Mina said defensively.

"Yes, you did!" Amy glowered. "You made me watch that awful American Pie movie!"

"You made her watch that?" Lita asked, smirking. "What, do you hate her or something?"

"Well, she left after the first...half hour or so," Mina explained, smirk as Amy continued to pout.

Serena started laughing, the attention of the four girls turning to her. "I love you guys so much, seriously." She gave a happy little sigh. "Thanks so much for the gifts. I have a spongebath due in like ten minutes, so...come on in and let's hug it out."

Awkwardly, stepping around the flower baskets, the four girls came in and did their best to reach and and contribute to the group hug inspite of the space issues.

"The doctor said my torso brace comes off tonight and he thinks I can leave tomorrow," Serena whispered. "I'll be wearing the arm cast for a bit, for some reason my back healed faster. They were...pretty freaked out about that too."

They nodded, embracing her the best they could.

Outside the room, Darien peaked in timidly, watching the five girls come together, then turned away to look at the wall across from him. A flood of thoughts roaming around in his head, he closed his eyes, trying to piece it all together.

And then, he felt a slight, gentle tug on the hair on the right side of his head. With lightning quick reflexes, his right hand reached up and snatched at the disturbed area, grabbing something. He opened his eyes, turned, and found his hand enclosed around the fingers of an all-too-familiar doctor, who was holding a pair of scissors in his other hand.

Darien's eyes narrowed into fiery slits. The doctor averted his gaze away.

"Uh...hi."

Darien's left hand lashed out, snatching the scissors away from the doctor, taking them in his large hand. He brandished the sharp tip towards the doctor, handle enclosed in his large fist. Darien opened his mouth.

"Yes, yes, I know, go away," the doctor said quickly, ripping his hand out of Darien's grasp and turning to quickly retreat. After a few steps, he stopped and turned around. "A-actually, could I...get those back?" he pointed at the small metal scissors.

Darien tightened his grip on the cutting tool, hand shaking with effort. With a little snap, the two pieces of the object were separately from each other. But he didn't stop there, anger tapping into a little bit of his Tuxedo Mask-borne super strength, and he continued to crush the tool into several dozen small metal pieces, letting them fall to the floor as they slipped from his fist.

"Or...or you can...keep them, that's fine too," the doctor said, turning back around and quickly running off.

"

**Headquarters, July 3rd, 1:02 PM**

"So have you just never apologized to anyone before for anything?" Raye asked. She and Darien were seated on one of the couches. Darien was sitting straight up, hands clenched together in his lap, knuckles white.

"Yes, of course I have!" Darien insisted. "All the time. But it's just...usually a very...binary and simple process. I say it, life goes on. You know." He raised his right hand up to his right, holding his palm upwards. "Hey, Andrew. Sorry I walked in on you fingerbanging Rita. I should have knocked." He moved his right hand over to his left to simulate the dialogue. "No problem, Darien. It was my fault. I should have locked my door."

Raye leaned away from him, forehead furrowing.

"That one kind of happens a lot," Darien admitted. "He...he never locks his door."

"Uh...huh," Raye said uneasily. "Okay. Well, anyway, I'll go first and soften her up a bit. I've got my own apology to make."

"About what?" Darien asked.

"Just a confession. Feel pretty bad about it right now." She pointed down at the large paper bag, filled to the brim with cellophane-wrapped comic books. "Hence the peace offering."

"What you got there?"

"Oh...Sailor V one through twenty, special editions, all autographed personally by the writing staff and art staff, mint condition," Raye said. "Four hundred bucks, worth closer to six."

"Pretty penny," Darien said.

"Yeah, but...you can't put a price on a clean conscience," she replied. "You got her something?"

"Yes I did," Darien said tersely.

"How much did it set you back?" she asked.

"You don't want to know," Darien answered.

"That bad, huh?" Raye gave a tiny smirk. "Well, you could always run out and—"

"No...you don't want to know, but not for..._that_ reason," he said. "You'll understand soon enough."

"Well, one word of advice." Raye stood up, stretching out. "Do not give it to her until after you get on her good side. I know she might seem shallow sometimes, but if she thinks you're trying to buy her forgiveness it'll be bad."

"What if I can't get on her good side?" Darien said darkly.

"Then...I hope you saved the receipt." Raye shrugged. "Look. You do this the right way, and I'll help you out a bit. I'm rooting for you. You do it right, and she'll come around."

"I...I really want her to," he admitted. "Like...a lot. It's pretty confusing, but...I think it would really bother me if I couldn't at least make her not hate me by the end of the day."

The outside door suddenly squeaked open, and immediately Raye jumped up. She grabbed the paper bag and hefted it up in her right hand. Lita and Mina, who were sitting by the computer, also got to their feet and made a beeline for the office.

Darien got up as well, following the girls, but instead of going into the office, he stopped just short of the doorway and sat down on the floor, ears perked up to listen.

In the office, Serena set a large plastic bag down on the floor, grinning broadly, a large white cast with several inscriptions and drawings in marker on it on her right arm. Luna and Artemis were already waiting on the desk, looking at Serena proudly.

"Well, I never thought I'd say this, but I got so many sweets for my birthday I don't think I can finish all of them by myself, so I am stocking the kitchenette with these!" Serena announced, pointing at the bag.

Amy, who had picked her up at her house and hailed the taxi to take them to headquarters, stood at her side. "Everyone remember to sign her cast before we leave."

"Yeah, it'll probably be off by sunset," Lita said, coming up to hug her. Serena returned it eagerly.

"Took a few minutes to set my mother at ease about me going out with this thing," Serena explained. "She gave in, but only because she thought I was going to Amy's."

"Don't know what she's so worried about," Mina said, coming up after Lita had let Serena go and hugging her. "You're obviously a medical marvel."

Raye set the paper bag down behind the desk, then slowly walked up to Serena. Serena turned to her, smiling.

"Hey, Serena..." she looked down at the ground, an uneasy smile on her face. "Can we...can we talk?"

"Yeah, of course," Serena said.

"Well...look, uh...I have something I want to say," Raye said. "Do you...remember, a few weeks ago, the...the thing happened, and you accused me of trying to organize a mutiny behind your back?"

Serena's face immediately fell, and she looked down at the ground. "R-Raye, I...I didn't mean any of that, I—"

"No, no...that's the thing, that...well, there's no other way to say it. That kind of..._did_ happen," Raye said quietly. "I mean...it wasn't much, but...I had a secret meeting with Amy and Lita while you were trying to cheer Molly up about Neflite, tried to convince them that...that I could do a better job than you."

"Oh." Serena gave a small frown. "W-well, Raye, I'm sure you had a...good reason for it—"

"No, Serena, no. I...I didn't. There is no good reason, I was...I was just being a brat. I didn't understand. And you were right, I've never...done a good job of honoring you as our leader, and...I'm going to change that. I get it now, I really get it." She pointed at Serena's chest. "I know that, as long as you're our leader, we're always going to find a way to get it done. Because of your incredible will to do whatever it takes, which is just...a thousand times greater than anything I have. I see that now."

"Oh, well..." Serena went slightly red.

"So...I just want to confess to that," Raye said, nodding. "And, I just want to say, that...although sometimes I don't always do a great job showcasing it, but I want you to know that at my core...I really do believe that...it's an honor to call you our leader, it's an honor to serve by your side...and it's an honor to call you my friend."

"Aww," Serena said, stepping in and hugging her with her left arm. "You're such a sweetie."

"Thank you," Raye replied. "I...I got you a belated birthday gift." She brought her over to the paper bag behind the desk, reaching down to carefully lift up a couple of the comics to show her.

"Are those the specials?" Serena asked, eyes widening and grin popping back out.

"Autographed. Factory sealed," Raye said, patting her on the back. "Alright. You feeling okay?"

"Fantastic," Serena said, nodding happily. The other girls came up, Amy holding a small blue marker, and the next few minutes were filled with the girls writing things on Serena's arm cast.

"Well, Serena, rather than ruin your cast with my fingerless scribbles, I'll just go for a...heckuva job," Artemis said, standing up from the desk and jumping down to the ground.

"I'm...incredibly proud of you," Luna added.

"Alright, let's...head on in," Raye said, turning towards the inner door. Serena followed, the other three girls on her heels, Lita holding the plastic bag of candy, the cats taking up the rear.

"Now, Serena, there's someone else who would like to talk to you," Amy said softly. Serena stopped a couple steps into the warehouse, then turned her head over to the right. Darien had stood up there, hands in his pockets and looking down at the ground. Immediately, her eyes narrowed and her smile faded.

"Oh," she said darkly. "_You_."

Part of Darien was actually a little happy. That qualified as talking to him, on some level.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"He just wants to say some things," Amy said, coming up next to her and giving a small smile. "That's all. He just wants to talk." With that, the four other girls fell back and allowed the two to engage on their own terms.

Serena rolled her eyes, but finally waved her left hand towards him. "Talk."

"Okay..." Darien rubbed his hands together in front of him slowly. "So...I know I'm supposed to be...up my own ass right now, but...I want to say a few things."

Serena continued to scowl, left hand on her left hip, but she seemed to at least be listening.

"So, let's start with the most obvious...I've said a lot of negative things about your...your competency as Sailor Moon. A lot of insults, a lot of accusations of not being capable of protecting the planet...and...I have to own that now. And I want you to know that it's all crap. Uh, what you did the other day...really, no exaggeration, a hundred times better than anything I've ever done. A thousand times. It was the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do. And you saved my life, and I owe you big time for that. So, I get it now. At the end of the day, you're the engine that makes this whole thing go, and as long as you're here, this...whatever it is we're doing, we're going to be fine. I could quit right now, and the scouts wouldn't miss a beat, because they still have you. I really...I really believe that now. I get it."

Serena still didn't look happy, quite the opposite in fact, but she continued to listen.

"And beyond that, I...I want to accept full responsibility for us not getting along these past nine months," he continued. "I've been a prick, and I'm sorry for that. And the things I've said...they weren't true. You're not...stupid, or lazy, or any other bad thing I've ever called you. I was wrong about you, and I'm sorry." He put his hands out at his sides meekly. "So...that's what I've got, I hope you can accept that. You have a lot of friends, you're on good terms with a lot of people, and if I'm not one of those people, then...that has to be on me."

Serena turned away, going over to the kitchette. "Whatever," she said coldly. "Don't you have a...marathon to run, or something? Maybe one that goes off a cliff?"

Darien timidly followed her. "Oh come on...that was really good! At least...you know, I thought—"

"Go away," she interrupted, opening the fridge and pulling out a water bottle.

"But you...you forgave Raye—" he said, pointing back over at Raye.

"Hey, don't even _try_ to make that comparison!" she snapped. She looked over at Raye. "Even at the very, very worst of times, Raye is my dickhead friend." She pointed her bottle-holding hand at Darien, index finger out. "_You_ are just a dickhead!"

"Y-yeah, I agree, I've...I've been a dickhead, and I want a chance to work on that," he said softly.

"I gave you a chance! In the hospital!" She leaned in close to his face, eyes narrowing. "_And you pissed it down your leg!_"

"Can...can this be my chance instead?" he asked hopefully. "Uh, look...also, I'm sorry about the Tuxedo Mask stuff. I swear I had no control over it and had no idea what was going on. I never wanted to...trick you, or hurt you, or anything like that, but if I did, then I'm very sorry for that."

Serena turned around and walked over to the couch, sitting down heavily. She pinned the water bottle between her legs, then used her left hand to twist the cap off.

"A-and, also, I'm sorry that Zoicite got the best of me. I gave it my best, she was better, and that's on me. If that didn't happen, your injuries would have been a lot less severe, I can admit that. So that's on me, and I'm sorry, and I hope you believe me when I say that I didn't mean for that to happen!"

Serena sighed, then lifted the bottle up to her lips for a long drink.

"Okay, okay...proposition," Darien said, pointing at Serena. "If you forgive me, I will allow you change my field name from Tuxedo Mask to anything you want, including Dickbag."

Lita cleared her throat loudly. She had agreed beforehand to indicate to Darien whenever he started saying anything stupid.

"Uh...bad joke, bad joke, sorry," he said, shaking his head back and forth. "But—"

"You wanna know something, Darien?" Serena asked, standing up, left hand still on her hip. "You're right. You're right about a lot of things."

"Okay—"

"I can forgive you for losing to Zoicite, Darien. I'm sure you gave it your best effort, mistakes happen, and if she got the best of you I'm sure it wasn't due to lack of trying. The extent of my injuries is unfortunate, but an inevitability when you do what I do, and I can forgive slipping up in the field when you obviously did your best!" she began, not looking like she was preparing to forgive him for anything inspite of her words.

"T-thank you, but—"

"I can forgive you for the Tuxedo Mask business too!" She took a step towards him. "It was out of your control, you didn't know what was going on, and hurting me was not your intention! There's a lot of weird things going on here, and my reaction to you being Tuxedo Mask was fueled by some immaturity and emotion on my part, and I admit that. I know you didn't want to trick me!"

"Right—"

She took another large step towards him. "I can forgive you for disrespecting my capabilities as Sailor Moon as well! I admit, I don't look like a superheroine who fights for justice, and judging a book by it's cover is something a lot of people do from time to time, including me! And I can admit, sometimes I don't _act _like a superheroine who fights for justice, I'm far from perfect and have my own flaws! That I could get past!"

"Well—"

"And, Darien, I could even forgive most of our spats over the last nine months!" Serena looked around. "Yes, you said some mean things, but I'm not blameless either, and honestly you taking full blame isn't fair to you! Most of our exchanges were harmless, and if I'm being completely honest—Mina, not a word from you—were actually kind of entertaining from time to time! Nobody's perfect, Darien, and I would be willing to forgive most of your crap over the last nine months!"

"Serena, I know where you're going here, and—"

"And, _Darien_, since you don't seem to have a good grasp on this, I'll just inform you that I don't care that you took one of my pudding cups!" she snapped.

"Yes, that was me missing the forest for the trees, and—"

"But you know what I _can't _forgive, Darien?" She scowled, again glaring at him. "You know what I can't get past? You luring me in, and spitting me back out!"

"Yes, Serena, I'd like to talk about that more," Darien said, tugging at his collar. "I know what you're talking about, so let's talk about that—"

"I tried to be nice to you!" Serena turned around and walked over towards the computer desk, Darien following her. "I tried to understand where you were coming from! I tried to make the best of an uncomfortable situation! And the screwed up part is that I kind of felt like you were trying to be nice to me!"

"Y-yes, Serena, you made a tremendous effort to—"

"But you couldn't help yourself! Less that a week later, you just had to ruin my day for no reason whatsoever!"

"Serena, you're absolutely right," Darien said, holding his hand out towards her. "That was an asshole thing to do, I have no excuse, and I'm very sorry—"

"What exactly were you thinking that night on stakeout?!" she asked. "Oh, this'll be hilarious, I'm gonna pretend to be nice to her, and then crap on her a few days later?! So, Darien, if you want to examine the black box of the plane crash and figure out where we entered the point of no return, look no further than your stunt at the TV store!"

"Wait," Raye said suddenly, finally breaking her silence and stepping forward. "What happened at a TV store?"

"H-hold on!" Darien yelped, holding his hands out towards Serena. "Please don't tell them!"

"Why?" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow at Darien.

"Because...because you...might think less of me?" he whimpered.

Amy rolled her eyes. "What did he do?"

"Oh, he...tried to goad me into buying a big screen with my personal operations account," Serena said darkly, chugging down more water after she finished.

"Wow," Raye deadpanned. Amy shot Darien her best dirty look.

"Yeah, that would do it," Lita admitted.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Mina asked, glowering over at Darien.

"A lot!" he answered pathetically. "I'm...I'm kind of a mess!"

"Do you think it's _easy_ for me to deal with the temptation that I face every single time I go out, Darien?! Every single time I pull that card out, every single time I pull money out, I have to look over my shoulder and have a believable lie ready! I don't buy so much as a stick of gum without thinking about every angle, and I know you don't think I'm smart enough to be able to think like that, Darien, but I do! I am constantly aware of slipping up, letting Amy down, and causing a chain reaction that weakens or destroys everything we've worked for! As much as I love being able to go buy food and comic books whenever I want, it's a constant struggle, and there's that little part of me that is absolutely terrified of making that one wrong move! So I don't need any additional pressure coming from you!"

The other girls were half expecting Darien to snap back with something, they were so used to it. But he was just silent. They looked at him. His body language was much more befitting a shy seven-year-old who had just broken his mother's family heirloom vase and was timidly accepting a loud lecture. His shoulders were hunched, he was frowning, and he was looking down at the ground in shame. Not a look he commonly sported.

"And, believe it or not, I was actually really hoping I might get something good from you in the hospital! Just something genuine and heartfelt, I might have been willing to put it behind me, but the best you could do is trying to bribe me with pudding and ice cream, which proves once and for all that you just don't get it!"

Darien nodded weakly. "Y-yes, that was a misguided attempt to curry your favor, I see that now—"

"Put it all together, Darien, and I can't do this!" She set the bottle down on the desk. "I can't put myself in a position where you can hurt me again, and I can't deal with someone as thoughtless as you! You were also right about me having a lot of friends and being on good terms with a lot of people, Darien, but I assure you that none of those people are assholes! Which you are and which you always will be, so, no, it's not happening." She shook her head. "We'll maintain our business relationship for as long as needed, and that's the very best I can do."

Darien desperately glanced around the room. He was all out of things to say, and he wasn't really expecting the other four girls to help him. Not right now. He sighed.

"Serena," he said, voice low. "Please forgive me?"

She didn't respond, taking more interest in the water bottle, picking up and taking a massive swig from it.

He grimaced. He certainly didn't want to do it, it went against an awful lot of pride that he had worked so hard to cultivate within him, but there wasn't anything else left. Slowly, he dropped to his knees, Serena almost choking on her water.

He bent over and put his palms down on the concrete, shaking. "Serena. Please forgive me?"

Serena stared at him for a second, then her eyes started darting around, highly confused. Lita's mouth fell open slightly.

"Holy crap," Raye muttered.

"I...I didn't think he'd actually do it, I said it as a joke," Lita said under her breath.

Serena's eyeballs kept on dancing back and forth frantically as she tried to process a response. "...D-Darien, can you just—"

Darien bent over further, pressing his forehead into the concrete. "Serena. Please forgive me?"

Serena set the water bottle back down, blinking rapidly, and glancing around like she was trying to find something. This went on for at least half a minute, so Raye finally stepped forward and went up next to her.

"Uh...Serena...maybe—" she started.

"I'm...I'm thinking!" Serena hissed.

"If he's willing to actually do...that, then maybe he can surprise you in a few other ways," Raye suggested. "Just a thought."

Serena turned away from Darien and huddled close to Raye, quieting her voice. "Yeah, or maybe he's just—"

"Serena, come on, look at how pathetic he looks!"

Serena glanced behind her. Pathetic was right.

"If he's going to do that, then I think you kind of have to forgive him," Raye said softly.

"...who...who made up that rule?!" Serena countered frantically. "And you heard what he did to me, so—"

"Oh, yeah, it's pretty awful, but...he wouldn't do _this_ unless he really felt bad about it," Raye pointed out.

"Well maybe I _want_ him to feel bad! Forever!"

"No you don't," Lita said, coming up behind her and rubbing her shoulder. "I mean, not forever. Not you, Serena."

Serena's shoulders sagged and she gave a small scowl. "No, no, some people just aren't meant to get along, ever, and that's me and him! Like...like...Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader."

Darien picked his head up slightly, looking up at her back. "Uh...actually, Serena—"

Lita cleared her throat as loudly as she could, and Darien immediately silenced himself and put his forehead back on the floor. Lita turned back to Serena.

"Hey, I mean, at the end of the day...maybe he wasn't genuine at the hospital, but if he's being genuine now...difference of a few days, what's the big deal?" Lita gave a small smile, shrugging. "In the grand scheme, pretty small difference."

Serena gave a tiny whimper. "Do I _have_ to?"

"Well, you don't _have_ to, but it would make everything a lot easier," Amy said, coming up next to her. "And deep down, more importantly, you _want_ to, don't you?"

"But he's such an _asshoooooole_," she whined.

"Well...if you give him a chance, maybe he'll surprise you." Amy said. "He certainly surprised you just now."

Serena fell silent again, glancing around. She closed her eyes, frowning. Seconds ticked by. She opened her eyes, glancing behind her, over at one of the warehouse walls. Her eyes found a slight indentation in the wall near the kitchenette. A little dent, created by her fist some weeks ago. She turned back away and closed her eyes.

"Hey, Serena."

Serena opened her eyes. Mina was standing in front of her. Mina lightly pushed the front of her left shoulder with her right hand, pushing Serena backwards maybe an inch.

"Don't be shitty."

Serena rolled her eyes, sighed, and then turned around to look at Darien.

"Apology...accepted," she moaned, making no secret of the fact that it took a tremendous amount of effort for her to get the words out. She walked over to him as he picked his head up, looking at her with a small smile. She extended her left hand out towards him. "Douche."

He took it and slowly stood up. "Thank you, Serena, it means...a lot to me."

"Yeah, it better," she said gruffly.

"Okay, so..." he sighed. "I...I got you a birthday present, a real one."

"You better pray for your sake it's not a Kenny Loggins CD or a...Top Gun DVD," she grumbled. "Because I will end you."

"No. First of all, I just want to say, again, how sorry I am about the TV store thing."

Serena pursed her lips. "Yeah, it was a pretty dick move."

"T-total dick move," Darien said. "And...I wanted to make it up to you, atone for that...and I thought that the figurative punishment should fit the crime...so..." he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keychain. "It's...in my car."

Serena's eyes popped open slightly, watching him slowly walk towards the door.

"What?" she deadpanned.

"

**Warehouse Parking Lot, July 3rd, 1:38 PM**

"No, no, no, no, _no_, Darien, you can't trick me, I'm not stupid!"

The five girls were standing at the side of the car, Darien having popped the side door open. Laying along the back seats was a large rectangular box, red and white, with multi-language text covering it, detailing the contents. Not that it needed that description, as a box like that pretty much spoke for itself. Serena was pointing at the box and scowling.

"Darien, there is absolutely no...no, that is an empty box, you are trying to mess with me again!" Serena scowled. "And after I—"

Lita stepped forward quickly, grabbing a handle on top of the box and lifting it up in her right hand, pulling it out of the car. "Doesn't feel empty to me," she said, smirking over at Serena.

Serena shook her head. "O...okay, he filled it with rocks or something!"

Amy took a look at the seams of the top of the box, covered in tape. "Not impossible, Serena, but this looks factory sealed."

"Serena, come on," Darien pleaded. "I'll take it inside in a minute and prove it to you, but I wouldn't do that. Not after all the work I put in to get you to forgive me! If that's not a real television in that box, then everything I just did was for nothing!"

Serena looked around, eyes wide, highly confused. "This...no, you couldn't...is this...is this some sort of joke?" She started frantically looking around for a hidden camera.

"Well...in a manner of speaking," Darien said sadly. "But the punchline is my bank balance."

Serena stared at the box as Lita set it down on the ground carefully. Then she looked back up at Darien. She gave her head a little shake.

"Okay, Darien, uh...well, first, thank you for the exceedingly generous present, that's...yes, I suppose I believe you, fine, and that's the main thing, but don't...don't try to get me to pity you with tales of financial woe, because I do pay attention when Amy briefs us!"

"What do you mean?" Darien asked.

"The operations account, and all of our accounts, are under _your _name, meaning you could buy a hundred big screen televisions and—"

"Ah, ah, Serena, if I may," Amy said quickly. "I watch those accounts like a hawk, as you know, and if Darien had used any of that money to buy a television, I would be alerted immediately. He has not."

Serena glanced at Amy, then back to Darien. "Okay, well...the eight grand we paid you for your services back in April! That would cover—"

"Actually, Serena, he returned that money to me this morning," Amy interrupted.

Serena's forehead wrinkled. "Did you never spend any of it?"

"It...it didn't feel right," Darien said, biting his lower lip and shrugging. "I don't know, I felt...dirty every time I thought about using it. Didn't even use it to replace my bedroom door."

"And...why did you give it back?" Serena asked.

"To...hopefully prove a point?" he said meekly. "And because I...don't deserve it."

"Well, yeah, you don't," she said, looking back at the television. "What about all that government grant money?"

"I can't use that money, it's all in a time-release trust," he said. "I'm going to medical school, you know. Eight to ten years of college tuition, pretty brutal. Serena, I swear, I bought this using my savings, which...no longer really exist now." He grimaced. "Which serves me right, but still."

Serena sighed, glaring down at the television box, deep in thought.

"I mean, obviously it needs to stay here, and I don't know how reasonable it is to get cable in a warehouse, but...Amy could probably hook it up to a laptop or something. And you can watch movies and play video games on it. Whatever you want."

Serena gave a little smirk. "So...I can do whatever I want with it?"

"Yes, it's yours," Darien said. "Happy birthday."

"Could I...force you to watch me destroy it with a baseball bat?" she asked, pointing up at Darien with an evil grin.

Darien winced, giving a tiny shiver. "Y...yes, if that would...make you happy—"

"Oooooh, could I force _you_ to destroy it with a baseball bat?" she asked, putting her hand to her chin.

"S-Serena, please, don't make me do that," he begged. "I'm serious, I'm not even done making payments on it yet, I—"

Serena giggled. "I'm kidding, God!" She turned towards the gate into the warehouse farm. "You think I'd destroy a giant television out of spite? No, that's...actually very kind of you." She started walking towards the gate.

"Well, I thought it was fair, and—"

"But you're still a douche!" she called out cheerfully.

"

**Headquarters, July 3rd, 1:56 PM**

Lita and Darien rotated one of the couches around so it was aimed at the television. The pair had positioned it on the floor against the wall by the kitchenette, currently receiving power but with nothing to display.

"Alright, so now it just needs some peripherals," Darien said.

"We'll worry about that later," Serena said, looking at it. "My parents actually got me a television for my room a few days ago. Half the size of this one. So I guess they've been one-upped."

"Well, I try," Darien said. "Also, Serena...have you never seen Return of the Jedi?"

"I didn't finish it," Serena replied. "Because ewoks are stupid. And freak me out."

"Oh, yeah, me too actually," Darien said. "I seriously made the orphanage staff remove all the teddy bears from the dorm I slept in." He shivered. "So...can I sign your cast?"

"Nope," Serena said flatly, walking away from him.

"Hey, come on, why not?" he asked, following her towards the corner.

"Cast signing is for family members and friends," she said, turning to point at him. "And you are neither."

"Yes, and I would like to apply for the latter group," he said, giving a tiny smile. "And I know you're just incredibly disappointed I didn't say the former group—"

Lita gave a mighty sigh, then ran up to Darien and started punching him in the upper right arm. Darien winced and backed away from her, hands up defensively.

"Ow, ow, okay, okay! Bad joke!" he cried, Lita finally stopping her assault. He rubbed the spot where she was hitting. "Geez. Hostile work environment."

Lita gave him a dry glare. He turned back to Serena and went over to her.

"Look, Serena. We're gonna be working together for at least a little while longer, and I think it would be easier on everyone if we got along as well as possible, so...how about we bury this completely and get a little head start on pushing things in the right direction, and just call it friends now? Would eliminate some of the awkwardness, and...I mean, I know it serves me right, but...I'm literally going to each nothing but cereal and ramen for a month to pay off that television." Darien shrugged. "Just putting that out there." He extended his hand out towards Serena.

Serena glanced around for a moment, brain cranking away. Finally, she extended her left hand and shook Darien's. "Trial basis."

"Of course," Darien said happily.

"_And you're still a douche_," she hissed, leaning in close to him.

"I know." He nodded.

"Amy, get him the marker!" Serena called out. A second later, the blue pen flew through the air at Darien and he caught it in his right hand.

"Write it on the back so I don't have to look at it," she said, turning away from him.

"Uh, okay, sure," he said, grinning as he bent down to start inscribing something on an empty space.

"And only your initials," she insisted.

"Yeah, whatever," he said.

"And make it _tiny_," she ordered, turning her head and squinting at him. "Like...like a microdot...in fact, make it a literal microdot."

"Just hold still," he said, quickly scribbled some writing down on the white of the cast.

"Doesn't feel like a microdot to me!" she snapped. Darien ignored her. "Are you making the sistine chapel back there or something?!"

"Hold on," he said, finally finishing and popping the cap back on the pen. "Okay, done."

"Thank God," she said, sitting down on the couch that hadn't been moved.

"Don't you wanna know what I wrote?" he asked.

"No, don't care," she said dismissively.

Darien laughed. "Okay." He turned towards the main section of the room. "And guys, everyone, that goes for all of you."

The other four girls slowly came in closer as he kept talking.

"I think...maybe, there have been times where I've been less than nice to all of you, and I want to say I'm sorry for that. I'm gonna work on that. I don't want this to just be an alliance any more, I want it to be a team. It's going to produce the best results, and...really, you five girls are pretty awesome. So, if we can bury the hatchet about our past differences, I'd really appreciate that. I really want to change the way we do things, and of course that starts with me, but...anything you all can do to help me is appreciated."

"Alright, Darien. If Serena can forgive you, then I can too," Amy said.

"Yeah, let's...give it a shot," Raye agreed.

"Only because of the abs," Mina said, coming over to pat him on the stomach.

"And the biceps," Lita added.

A loud throat clearing noise came from the coffee table. Darien turned to look and found Artemis standing there, glaring at Darien and scowling.

Darien bit his lower lip. "Uh...yeah, you too, I've been a dick to you too. And I'll be nicer from now on, uh...uh...Arthur—"

"It's Artemis!" he snapped.

"R-right, Artemis, I'm...sorry about my past behavior, I'll be nicer now."

Artemis glowered. "Where's my TV, huh?"

"Uh..." Darien looked around. "How about you swing by my place and you can have some of my beers?"

"Imports?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah, I've still got some of those left," he said. "German, sixteen letter name I can't pronounce. Like one vowel."

"Deal," Artemis relented.

"Oh, and Darien?" Amy said. "We're going to The Cheesecake Factory tonight to celebrate Serena being up and about, as well as our victory over the Negaverse. It's a team morale event, so if you want to be part of the team..."

"Uh, thank you, but...really not in my budget right now," Darien said uneasily.

"It's a team morale event, Darien. It's coming out of the operations account." Amy nodded. "I'm not _that _much of a stick in the mud, you can't raise moral by making everyone pay for their own food."

"Oh." Darien looked over at Serena. "Well, then—"

"Yes, you can come," Serena said. She turned to look at Darien. "But you're still a douche."

"Okay, well, in that case, do you think I could take some boxes of food home?" he asked timidly.

"I...don't see why not," Amy answered.

"I mean, like...four or five boxes?" he added. "Or is that rude? Because I'm looking at some pretty serious cereal and ramen rationing for awhile."

Serena looked up. "Amy, give him his money back," she said loudly. Darien turned to look at her. "And don't take no for an answer."

"Uh, Serena, it's fine, I—"

"Actually, wait...no, Amy, get him his own operations account," she instructed. "Same as ours."

Darien looked at her in mild shock, which he quickly shook off. "Serena, it's part of my atonement for—"

"Hey," Serena said, standing up and looking at him. "Do you want to be part of this team or not? Because that's what we all have. If you don't have one, you're not part of the team. So you're getting one if I have to jam the debit card in your nose, so are you gonna make this easy for me or not?"

Darien's eyes widened slightly, and a tiny smile crept onto his face. "O...okay, thank you, that means a ton to me."

"And...you won't be much good to us in the field on a diet of cereal and ramen," she added. "So actually spend it this time!" She sat back down on the couch. "Oh, and—"

"I'm still a douche, well aware," Darien finished. "Okay, I guess I'll head home for a bit, you should probably take a nap or something. Call me when you guys are headed there." He beckoned towards Artemis. "Come on buddy, let's go drown the ice."

Artemis took off on a quick gallop after him out the door, Darien waving as he strolled towards the door.

"See you all tonight."

As soon as he was out the door, Serena stood up and went over to Lita. "Okay, what did that idiot write?"

"I thought you didn't care," Lita teased, turning Serena around to look. Mina and Raye exchanged impish glances, then gave Lita a look. Lita nodded.

"Well, he probably wrote kick me or something," she said quickly. "What'd he write?"

"Uh..." Lita started laughing. "Uh...he...he wrote...he drew an arrow pointing down at your ass, and he wrote...Darien was here!" She started laughing uproariously, keeling over. Mina and Raye joined her as Serena pouted.

"God, you people are disgusting," Serena said, shaking her head.

"Okay, okay, yeah, what's wrong with you Lita." Mina went over behind Serena's back and looked down at the cast, fighting back laughter. "He...he actually wrote...come by my place later, and I'll show you something that a girl can still do with only one working hand!"

Raye collapsed to the floor and started beating her palms onto the ground, laughing madly. Lita also crumpled over with a fit of the giggles. Serena rolled her eyes, then walked over to Amy.

"Amy, what did he write?" she asked.

Amy shook her head. "Animals," she said under her breath. "He wrote...the bravest person I know. D.S.."

Serena thought for a moment, then turned to look at her. "Really?"

"Yes, Serena, that's what it says," Amy answered.

"Hm." Serena pursed her lips. "Not bad. But...still a douche."

"

**Headquarters, July 3rd, 5:44 PM**

"He knows that we're going to call, he asked us to call, and yet..." Amy looked down at her cell phone, frowning. "Why wouldn't he be answering?"

"Oh, I'll bet those two killed each other," Luna groaned. "I knew this was a bad idea, I should have been there to supervise! What was I thinking, that Artemis was capable of responsible behavior?!"

"Oh, come on, Luna, Artemis is fine. Maybe he's listening to music and can't hear his phone," Raye suggested. "It's usually something pretty innocent."

Luna sighed. "I very much doubt it," she said darkly. "Amy, let's take a cab over to Darien's apartment and break it up. The rest of you, just head to the restaurant."

"Alright." Mina tapped Amy on the shoulder softly. "See you there."

"I just hope they're both still alive," Luna moaned.

"

**Darien's Apartment, July 3rd, 6:02 PM**

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that me and him got off on the wrong foot, or whatever, but listen, _forget_ all that, okay, because this cat is awesome!"

Darien was sitting there on the couch, an assortment of beer cans and bottles on the table in front of him, Artemis seated on the couch's armrest. Amy stood there, Luna in her arms, staring at the very strange scene.

"I mean, did you guys know he can whistle?! He's a cat, and he can whistle!" Darien pointed at Artemis, almost giggling to himself.

"Uhhhh..." Amy said uneasily.

"Watch, I taught him something, I taught him something, uh, Artemis, do that thing I taught you!"

Artemis closed his eyes and made a small hole between his lips.

_Whewt-whewtttt-whewtwhewtwhewtttttt-whewtwhewtwhew twhewt-whewt-whewtttt-whewtwhewtwhewtttttt..._

"Are you hearing that?!" Darien asked, a massive grin on his face. "Come on, that's an easy one!That's _Satisfaction_ by the Stones!"

"Wow," Luna deadpanned, staring at Artemis.

"

AN: Just a quick little rant here, I really liked writing this chapter for one reason in particular.

Now, I like the character of Darien Shields. I think he's a lot of fun, and I like him the way he is for the most part. I like that he's got a bit of an edge to him, I like that he's a doofus underneath the gary stu-ness, and I like that he really tries to be a romantic even though it's not really him.

That being said, at least in the English Dub, he is a dickhead.

Now, I'm not really talking about at first, although that is partially the case. I mean, I love his early season one dickery. It's funny, it gives him personality, it gives him something to grow beyond...that's all well and good, and I enjoy it. Also I concede that he's not exactly the same type of dickhead that I write. In dub canon he's more Squall Leonhart, while I write him closer to Sterling Archer (mainly because I like to exaggerate character traits so things aren't so bland), so take all this with a grain of salt. I also concede that this is just fanfiction and this ultimately means nothing. And of course, he has a bit of a freudian excuse for being a dickhead. I'll even give him that, most of the time, he's a loyal, loving, and protective boyfriend who would do anything for his love, do anything to protect the earth, and does try to be a good guy.

But one thing that bugs me is that he seems rather prideful in circumstances where maybe he should suck it up a little bit.

He's kind of a douche through most of season one, and while I find it entertaining, it feels like he never really owns up to that later. Now, that's nothing, but one thing that personally bothers me is how he handles the breakup sequence in season two.

I understand there were extenuating circumstances. I understand he's got a lot of skeletons in his closet that make him a touch mean. I know he thought he was doing the right thing, and given what he knew that was fair. I know it was killing him to do what he did, and that it's clear he's in agony over it.

But his exit strategy is still basically "hurt Serena as much as possible and then treat her like shit in the hopes that she will leave you alone".

And this goes on for fifteen episodes, most of which I can't watch in full because it's tough for me to stomach the emotion.

Now, yes, given that he really thought he needed her to go away, maybe this was an understandable way to go about things. I say he took it further than he needed to in some instances, but fine.

My real problem is how he takes her back.

I know it's a very heartwarming scene for a myriad of reasons, and the emotional resonance behind it is very meaningful, as it represents him deciding that he loves her too much to let anything stand in their way. And I know the real thing to take from that scene is that Serena doesn't care how he takes her back, as long as he does, because that's how much she loves him.

But I'll be damned if he didn't basically just do the kid-friendly equivalent of throwing his dick out on the table and asking her if she wants to go bang.

He's semi-cryptic, he tries to avoid acknowledging his error, and, above all, he doesn't even come close to apologizing. Maybe it wasn't his fault, but what he did was really hurtful, and it has always bothered me that we never saw him swallow his pride to apologize. We're left to assume that it happened off-screen, which is not satisfying to me.

Does love mean never having to say you're sorry? Maybe.

Does Serena not even remotely care if he apologizes or not, so long as they're back together? Maybe.

But I hope Darien realizes how lucky he is that he has a girl who is so head-over-heels in love with him, that she'll overlook the fact that he can be a dickhead.

So me getting to write him getting taken down a peg and humbling himself a bit like this, even in a fanfiction, felt satisfying. It means nothing, but to write it felt good. I've always wanted to write him having to own up for being a douche, and now I have.

Beyond all that...I'm kind of glad this chapter is over, we're at the halfway point, and I can slightly adjust the way I've been writing this fic. I want to bring it back to the original core concept a bit, and that will be easier now that a fairly big subplot has been settled. Serena/Darien is ridiculously fun to write, and I loved it, but there are a thousand fics out there with Serena/Darien, so even if I do it really well, it can only go so far.

There aren't other SM fics that revolve around the pros and cons of obtaining wealth, and that's what I want to get back to, at least partially.

New chapter sometime this weekend or early next week.


	21. Let The Good Times Roll

Chapter 21: Let The Good Times Roll

"

AN: Sixty-one reviews. Wow. This is a big thing for me. I realize that there are many authors out there who might get sixty-one reviews on a one-shot, or sixty-one reviews per chapter on a multi-chapter, but for me this is big. Not only does it easily break my old record (I've never broken fifty before), but I consider it a win when I can get a story to average more than three reviews a chapter. For some, that's piddling, but I've never been able to crack the ice on a several-hundred review fic, so three per chapter is very good for me.

I want to thank everyone for your reviews. I appreciate all of them (perhaps some more than others, but yes). It helps keep me motivated and focused. Generally, I write for myself, but feedback is always loved.

Special shoutout to Dark Moon Ministry (we've exchanged extended meaningful dialogue about my fic via PM) for helping me sculpt some of the details as this fic went along and keeping focus, sailormoon0630 (on top of her many reviews I've gotten some feedback from her via chat and PM as well) for being very supportive, and Napoleon Bonerfart for being the first person to indicate to me that my Archer references/homages/shoutouts/ripoffs were not being wasted. I appreciate anyone who has ever given me feedback on this story, of course, but those three in particular have really made me happy.

Now, because I'm so happy with how this fic is going and the feedback I get from you all, I have a little offer I'd like to put out there for anyone (even if you've never reviewed or given feedback on this fic before). In order to help myself focus and distill my thoughts for the second half of this fic, I've started going back, combing over the chapters I've written so far, and making many notes about things I thought were good, things I think could have been better, things I thought were straight up bad, key themes, key moments, key lines, points of emphasis, etc. I thought it would be good to take stock of everything so far in this way. However, I then decided that it might be fun to release these notes to anyone who wanted to read them (I can see no reason why not) and I slightly altered the exercise to make the notes more like a director's cut, meaning they're addressed to a reader rather than to myself.

As of this moment, I've completed the note-taking process for the first five chapters, and if you want to see them, then you need only ask. I'm going to continue to take notes on the first twenty chapters over the next several days, the notes contain no spoilers for what will happen over the second half of this fic (I do discuss certain scenes and themes being important later, but never with direct spoilers, and almost always I refer to a future scene that has already been published anyway), and I think they might help shed light on my thought process throughout writing the fic as well as where I'm coming from. I don't believe in revisionist history, but I do believe in admitting mistakes, which is something I do in my notes.

Now there's no problem if you don't want to see them, it is kind of an odd thing that isn't for everyone, and I wrote them for my benefit mostly. However, if you do, **you must email me at the gmail account in my profile. If you request it via review or PM, I will not be able to give them to you, as does not allow direct linking outside of the site.**

Once you email me, I will email you back with a google docs link as well as instructions on how to view the notes. If I do not email you back within a few hours, PM me on , as your email may have disappeared in gmail's increasingly braindead way of organizing mail and I'll need a nudge to hunt it down.

I think it's a fun little way to celebrate the rough halfway-point and might add a little something to the fic. Again, anyone can request access, and if it's not something that interests you you won't be missing out on anything important.

Moving on, this chapter is a little later than I said it would be. Mainly because I encountered yet another very stressful occurence on monday, but unlike the ones that motivate me to write more, this one was so potentially dangerous that it freaked me out to the point where writing was impossible, and had the worst happened I would have probably had to stop writing for weeks, if not months, to mitigate the damage. Fortunately, by the end of monday, the problem was buried, and no harm no foul, but writing on monday was out of the question.

Also I've been reading and processing thoughts on a SM fanfiction I've recently read (the author of this fic will know what I'm talking about) and trying to put together an indepth and meaningful review, so I've been reading a bit during times where I might be otherwise writing. I'm trying to be a courteous member, and that includes actually reading and reviewing from time to time, which I am bad at, so trying to get better.

And of course, the note taking process has slowed this chapter a bit, but I don't feel TOO bad about taking a break after how exhausting chapter twenty was.

Okay, that's enough of that, on to the fic. This chapter is a chance for me to decompress after last chapter. This is very much a wind down for me, and at least a little bit fluff-ish, while also bringing some focus back to the original main theme of the fic. Good amount of comedy, just to take some of the edge off, take it a little easy. Just turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.

"

**Downtown Mall, July 10th, 9:57 AM**

"You sure you're up for mall-trawling with a cast on your arm?" Raye asked, looking down at Serena's large protective arm cast, absolutely covered in assorted marker scribbles.

"Are you kidding me?" Serena said, grinning. "With this thing on, most people let me cut the lines, I'm not passing up my last chance to take advantage of that!"

The team, five girls plus Darien, were huddled up around a bench at a four-way intersection in the middle of the mall, streams of people passing by them in all directions.

"Alright everyone, we'll meet in the food court at about...say...one o clock." Amy nodded. "Everyone have fun. Mina, you stay here, I want to talk to you about something. Darien, could you do me a favor and come back by here in about an hour?"

"Sure thing," Darien said. "This is so weird, I'm going on a shopping spree with a bunch of teenage girls."

"Well, we'll be splitting up," Lita said. "You can go anywhere you want. I mean, they have electronic stores, sporting goods..."

"And, of course, anabolic steroids," Serena added, giving a wry grin.

Darien's eyes narrowed into slits, glaring at Serena. "Ana...anabolic steroids, is that...some kind of—"

"I'm kidding!" Serena went over and smacked him on the back with her left hand. "Get used to that, by the way. I do a lot of kidding around. We all know your arms are naturally homegrown."

Darien immediately softened his expression. "Oh...well, good."

"Come on, Darien. Don't be jumpy. I said I'd give you a chance to be a friend, so I'm going to give you the full Serena package." She patted him on the back. "Attempts at comedy and all."

"Yes, Darien, that goes for us all," Amy said. "We're going to do the best we can to include you in everything we do and make you feel comfortable, so the best thing you can do is just ease in to treating us like you treat your other friends."

"So...like Andrew," Darien said. "Okay, I can do that."

All of the girls except Amy, plus Darien, withdrew their debit cards and stuck them out into the middle of the group, clinking them together, then hid them back in their pockets before breaking out and heading in various directions. Lita chased Darien down and fell into step next to him.

"Let's walk and talk for a minute here. So, enjoying your personal expense account?" she asked, glancing around with a smirk on her face.

"Oh, you better believe it," he replied.

"So...I've got a little offer for you." She looked around furtively. "Are you familiar with the magic of compound interest?"

"Yeah."

She put her hand up on his shoulder. "Then you are gonna _love_ this."

Back at the bench, Amy sat down, Mina joining her.

"H-hey, Amy, I just realized, you don't have a debit card," Mina mused. "You should—"

"Not necessary," she insisted. "I built a computer system that cost more than fifteen times what the personal accounts have, I've more than had my fair share. I took a little money out for the tontine, and that's fine by me."

"Aren't there things you want to buy?" Mina asked.

"Yes, but I'm content with using allowance money," Amy said. "But that does bring me to the topic I wanted to discuss with you here."

"I'm listening," Mina said.

"Now...forgive me for sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, but I think you understand that I watch every single scout account for obvious reasons, meaning I get constant updates every time something changes." Amy looked around. "That includes the personal expense accounts."

Mina shrugged. "Hey, that's fine."

"I'm not so interested in what you girls are buying, as I do trust you all, it's more that I want to keep an eye out for any sort of fraud," Amy continued.

"And all of us appreciate the help," Mina added.

"Now...your current operation account balance, as of this morning, is seventy-three hundred and sixty nine dollars and twenty-one cents," Amy said slowly.

"Sounds about right," Mina said.

"So, the account started with ten thousand," Amy said. "You put twenty-five hundred into the tontine, same as the rest of us, leaving you with seventy-five hundred."

"With you so far."

"And then, you bought that expensive dress for Serena's birthday, which I recall cost one hundred and nineteen dollars and ninety-nine cents. Add a nine percent sales tax, and that comes out to one hundred and thirty dollars and seventy-nine cents."

"Uh...okay, Rain Man, where you going with this?" Mina looked around uneasily.

"Seventy-five hundred minus one hundred and thirty point seventy-nine is, in fact, seventy-three hundred and sixty-nine point twenty-one. Meaning that, outside of your tontine contribution and Serena's birthday present, you haven't touched your account. And I'd like to talk about that." Amy reached over and put her hand on Mina's shoulder.

Mina looked away. "Oh...I haven't seen anything that I wanted to buy recently," she said quickly.

Amy stared at her flatly for a few seconds. "That may be the funniest thing _you've_ ever said."

"Thank you," Mina said, still looking the other way.

"Mina, I think I already know the reason why. You can tell me, I'm...I'm afraid that this is my fault and I'd like to help you. Why aren't you using the account? I assure you, the others are using theirs."

Mina looked back at Amy, biting her lower lip. "Because...I'm scared?"

Amy nodded slowly. "Yes, I...I thought that might be the case. I'd like to talk about that more."

"Well, it's just...I go out, I look at stuff in stores, and I think...you know, I'd like to have that, or that might be cool, and then I start thinking of how I could buy it without anyone getting suspicious, and then how to make sure my parents don't see it, or if they do I'd have a good reason for it...and then, I just sort of...leave." She shrugged sheepishly. "Like, I think about the angles, try to account for all the considerations...but the moment I lay a finger on anything I'm thinking about buying, I can't shake the feeling that I'm forgetting something."

Amy sighed. "Yes, Mina. I would like to take responsibility for you feeling that way, and I am very sorry."

"No, Amy, it has nothing to do with you, this is about me and how I'm—"

"Mina. I really do appreciate you being so thoughtful about using your money, and there's definitely a part of me that's proud I was able to help instill that sense of responsibility in you. But, and this is something I need to apologize for...I fear I may have taken it a little too far." Amy dropped her hand back to her side and looked down at the ground. "You remember day we received the suitcase of money?"

"Oh, yes, of course, I'll never forget," Mina answered.

"I...I stand by a majority of what I said that day," Amy started. "Handling a sum of money that you can't explain having is a very risky and dangerous business, and I still feel it was required that I gain control over managing the process of using it. However, I believe that, in hindsight, I may have...gone a little overboard."

"Amy, you've certainly steered us right to this point. Maybe it hasn't been perfect, but your guidance has done an incredible amount of good for us, so whatever you've done has worked."

"Yes, but...I think I may have used some fear-mongering tactics to secure control," Amy said. "I saw the money, I saw the way you girls were looking at the money, and I panicked. Perhaps understandable, but I do feel I went a little far. And I feel that me going a little far may have intimidated you in a way that's not entirely fair." She turned her head around, looking behind her. "In reality...there's absolutely no reason why you can't go out and buy some comic books or candy. Even if your parents saw them, it would be the easiest thing in the world for you to say that one of your friends bought it for you. Truthfully, movie tickets, pizzas, pedicures...those kinds of things are very low risk, I said some of those things to try to guarantee complete control. And on some level, I was wrong to do that."

"Well...maybe that applies for most people, but—"

"There is always a little bit of risk in what we're doing here, Mina. But we can't give in to fear and let it dictate our lives. That's something I'm really trying to work on. There's risk every time we walk out our front doors in the morning, and...we need to accept a tiny bit of risk." Amy chewed the inside of her cheek. "So, I wanted to talk to you about all that, and let you know that it's okay. Yes, whatever you can do to lessen the danger is good. Keep things you buy at headquarters, buy things you consume and throw away, that sort of thing. But, given that the cosmos are asking us to go out and risk our lives routinely fighting evil forces that threaten to destroy the world, then I don't think there's any harm in buying a pair of shoes sometimes."

"Yeah, Amy, but...it's different for me," Mina said, hands wringing together in front of her uneasily.

"And why might that be?" Amy asked.

"Because...because I'm not smart," Mina answered.

"Oh...come off that," Amy insisted. "That's not true."

"I can just see it now," Mina continued. "I screw something up, this whole thing crumbles, and you guys aren't even surprised. 'Yeah, that's just classic Mina for you'. I mean, it writes itself. And I just don't want that to happen." She reached down and pulled out the debit card, frowning at it. "Honestly, part of me just wants to give this back. I might leave it out on the dinner table and my mom might see it or something."

"You're not giving it back," Amy said, giving a small smile. "I won't take it back. You're keeping it."

"I mean, you, forget about it, you're eight steps ahead of everyone else. Darien, he's really smart and lives on his own, he's fine. Raye, she's got it under control, and her unique living situation makes it a little easier for her. Lita, she gets it and she lives on her own for..._some _weird reason, so no problem there. And...Serena, look at how far she's come, I think she's really figured a lot of this stuff out. But I...just don't think I meant to handle something like this." Mina shrugged. "And I can live with that."

"You're plenty smart," Amy said. "Listen, if how I've gone about things has made you feel cautious about approaching this money business, then I feel I've done something good. But if I've made you feel paranoid, then I have gone too far, and I apologize for that. So, today, I am going to help you through that." She stood up, grabbed Mina's arms, and lifted her to her feet. She pointed behind her. Mina turned to look at the shop she was pointing at. "So, today, you are going to buy yourself a computer."

Mina looked at the small electronic boutique for a few seconds, then back to Amy. "A-Amy, that's...no, that's several hundred dollars, I don't know how to use a computer, I'll probably break it, and my parents—"

"—will never know you have it, as it will stay at headquarters," Amy said comfortingly. "But I want to give you something to play with, I want you to have the opportunity to learn how to use one without being scared of breaking mine, and I want you to be able to buy something nice with your money. So, I'm going to help you pick one, and then Darien is going to come by to help us buy it. We'll find what you want, you'll go get money out of a machine, you'll give it to Darien, and he'll buy it for you to avoid suspicion. I would not be doing this unless I believed it to be safe, and this is very much safe."

"Maybe we should start smaller," Mina suggested. "Like a bag of jelly beans."

"Maybe we can do that after," Amy said. "But I can see that I've said some things that have intimidated you, and I wish to rectify that by helping you with this." Slowly, Amy guided her around the bench and towards the entrance. "I can tell that you've always wanted one, and in this day and age teenagers should be able to at least have access to one."

Mina sighed, but allowed Amy to guide her into the store. "Well...alright, if you say it's safe then...I guess it's safe. But I probably _will_ break it."

"

**Headquarters, July 11th, 1:03 PM**

"Aaaaannnddddd..." Lita tapped the mousepad with the tip of her right index finger, bringing up a browser window. "You are now online."

"Alright, cool," Mina said. The two were seated on the couch, the laptop on the coffee table in front of them. Mina went down to her knees in front of the screen, carefully running her index finger along the pad. The computer was thin and light grey, a fairly simple and typical model.

"A whole universe of information and resources is now at your fingertips," Lita said, sitting back. "A little later, I'll introduce you to the world of free internet porn."

"Wait, that's a thing?" Mina turned to look at Lita.

"Oh, you have _no_ idea," Lita said, smirking.

"An _illegal_ thing for fourteen-year-olds, thank you very much," Amy said loudly.

"Yeah, Amy, that's true, definitely the only illegal thing that's ever happened in this warehouse!" Lita retorted sarcastically, chuckling to herself. "Go hack into NASA again!"

"I did not hack into NASA," Amy said. "I hacked into a radio emitter that I used to trick NASA."

"Well, that's much better," Lita said, laughing.

Amy was seated at the computer chair, working with her tablet. Suddenly, the door swung open. Darien, Serena, and Raye entered, Serena holding a bag of donuts in her left hand.

"Yeah, said your mom," Darien said, pointing at Serena. "BOOM!"

"Ugh, third time today," Serena said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, he's...good at those." Raye set her bag down on the floor by the door.

Mina held up a small blue device about the size of her finger. "So, what's this?"

"That's a storage device," Lita explained. "They call it a thumbdrive, you can store data on it, like pictures."

"Like porn?" Mina asked, staring at the small device.

"Absolutely." Serena, Raye and Darien came over to the couches, stopping behind the one closest to the corner. Lita got off the couch and grabbed the drive from Mina. "All you have to do is stick it in the hole over here."

Darien pointed at Lita quickly. "Yeah, said your mom, boom!"

"DAMMIT!" Lita moaned. Mina, Serena and Raye suppressed a few giggles.

"...right." Amy rolled her eyes and got up, walking over towards the group, tablet in hand. "Okay folks, we need to talk! The nature of the game is changing, and we have a lot to discuss. I have an itinerary here that we need to cover. And please be patient with me, as it's very long."

Lita immediately pointed at Amy. "Said your mom, boom!" Everyone else started giggling again, except for Amy, who was decidedly unamused.

"Yeah, that was good," Darien said.

Amy turned to glare at Darien. "This is your fault."

"Yeah, pretty much," Darien admitted, looking rather pleased with himself. "Hey, you said treat you girls like I treat Andrew."

"Yes...starting to regret that a little bit. You know, Darien, when you joined the team, I was rather hoping you might be more the...intellectual type," Amy said, sitting down heavily on the couch. "We really could use a little more of that."

"Hey, I am _plenty_ intellectual," Darien insisted. "My grades speak for themselves."

"Starting to wonder how you pull those grades off, exactly," Amy muttered to herself.

"And, as an intellectual, I have four words for you." He pointed at Amy. "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"Okay, you've...you've lost me," Amy said.

"This whole situation is unbelievably screwed up, and believe me when I say that it's going to result in all of us being unbelievably screwed up. You girls should be having slumber parties, chasing boys, and watching Hugh Grant movies over the summer, and instead you're tasked with saving the planet from the forces of evil. You risk death and dismemberment constantly, you don't even really know why you've been given superpowers...I mean, it's a mess. The things you girls have to do at such a young age? You'll probably all be catatonic by the age of thirty-five thinking about these atrocities. Serena literally dropped a bank on someone."

"Still not getting it," Amy said flatly.

"And me? I mean, not to be a pussy about it, but I did _so_ not need all of this stress and pressure given what I've already had to deal with in life. I don't really believe in karma, but if the universe wants to make it up to me, then I had better be re-incarnated in my next life as...like, a Prince, who lives in a castle made of diamonds, with a harem of like five hundred supermodels." Darien shrugged. "And retractable angel wings."

"Do you have a point?" Amy asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"The point is, the best thing we can do is keep things loose and fun, to try to mitigate all the emotional trauma that this endeavor is going to cause, and I am going to do that to the best of my abilities." Darien nodded. "If some jackass upstairs wants to make six teenagers try to defeat the forces of evil, then the least I can do is crack jokes to keep the mood light."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Yes. Well, fair or not, this is something we all have to do, and so as much as I am thrilled with our recent successes and victories, I'd like it if you could all take this a little more seriously right now."

"Oh come on, Amy!" Raye said. "You know full well that, when it comes time to get serious, we all know how to get serious. But right now...I mean, Zoicite's remains are being peeled off a slab of marble downtown, the negaverse just had to waste a ton of their resources on an attack that we were able to beat back, Serena's cast is coming off in a few hours, we have a new full-fledged team member, there's just a lot to be excited about."

"Our work is far from over," Amy insisted. "We've had a good solid week of taking it easy and enjoying Zoicite's defeat, I'm fine with that, we earned it, but there's still one general left, and then we have Beryl and the negaforce to think about, so I think it's time to get our game faces back." She turned back to Darien. "And, no offense to anyone here, you're all great, but I am currently sitting on one side of the seriousness seesaw with a black cat in my lap, and you are all on the other end, so I could use some help."

"Oh, you're...serious enough for all of us," Darien said dismissively.

"Darien, please, this is already hard enough—"

Darien pointed at her. "Said your mom, boom." Chuckling to himself, he turned around and went over to the fridge. Amy glared at his back, then shook her head.

"I think I liked him better when he was mean," she grumbled.

"Oh, don't be like that," Mina said. "I like friendly Darien, he adds a whole new dynamic to the crew."

"Yeah, I wish we could bring more people onto the team like this." Serena said. "It's a great change of pace. I wish there were more Sailor Scouts."

"That would be great," Mina mused. "Too bad there aren't any more planets."

Amy raised an eyebrow, then turned to stare at Mina.

"I was joking!" Mina said quickly.

"Were you?" Amy asked tersely.

"Oh, yeah, that would be cool!" Lita enthused. "If there were other Sailor Scouts for the other planets, and they joined us, that would be the coolest!"

"Well...yes, I suppose, now let's turn to more pressing considerations—" Amy said through gritted teeth.

"Wait a minute," Raye said, standing up. "We have a Sailor Moon, so...what if there were also Sailor Scouts for all the other moons?"

"Oh my God, we'd have an army!" Mina enthused. "We'd need to find a bigger warehouse!"

"We could make a football team!" Darien said, coming back over towards the couch, holding a bottle of water. "Actually, probably two football teams, and we could have intramural football games! Oh, or, we could make a basketball _league_! Ten teams, all of the planet scouts, plus me, would be team captains, plus Pluto so she doesn't feel bad about the whole Neil Degrasse Tyson thing. We'd have games every saturday, definitely a midseason tournament, and then playoffs for the top four teams at the end! I could buy a big trophy for the winning team every year too!"

Amy closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

"Oh, and what if the scouts for the moons were, like...minions of the scout for their planet?!" Lita suggested.

"Oh, wow, I could have two minions!" Raye said excitedly. "Sailor Phobos and Sailor Deimos!"

"I would have so many freaking minions!" Lita said. "I'd make a giant feast for them every single night! Sailor Io would definitely be into spicy food, and Sailor Europa would be all about seafood, and Sailor Callisto would be a big eater, so I'd have to redo my kitchen so I have enough room to make all those different dishes at once..."

Amy's shoulders sagged, and her eyes re-opened into tiny slits.

"Wait." Serena put her hand to her chin. "With all of those scouts, we'd...run out of money pretty fast."

"YES, Serena, thank you, we would, so we should stop talking and thinking about it!" Amy said, standing back up. "Now—"

"Well, hold on, what if one of the new scouts was loaded?!" Raye suggested, pointing at Serena. "She could replenish our accounts!"

"Oh, yeah, that's true!" Serena agreed. "I mean, one of the scouts could be a trust fund kid, or a heiress..."

"Oooh, or an actual Princess!" Mina added.

"Oh my God, what if one of the Sailor Scouts was a Princess?!" Serena shrieked. "That would be so great!" Suddenly, her forehead wrinkled. "Wait, if the moon scouts would be minions for the planet scouts, would I then be the minion of Sailor...Earth?"

Amy slowly walked over towards the corner of the kitchenette, arms crossed over her chest, hugging the tablet close to her, scowling.

"Yeah, I guess...but what if Sailor Earth was the Princess?" Darien suggested.

"I would _totally _be okay with being the minion of a Princess!" Serena said, grinning.

_Thud._

Everyone looked over into the corner. Amy was slumped over, head resting on the counter of the kitchenette. She picked her head back up a few inches, then brought it back down onto the hard surface.

_Thud._

"Oh, I'm sorry Amy." Raye walked over towards her, putting her hand on her back. "Mercury doesn't have any moons, so you don't have any minions, that's a tough break."

Amy picked her head back up and brought it back down on the counter a third time.

_Thud._

"Oh...have a heart."

Amy looked up to find Artemis sitting next to her head on the counter.

"I'm sure your briefing is excellent, Amy, and also very important, but...maybe not today. I mean, Serena still has her cast on...and they're way too hyper, too many good things are happening."

Amy narrowed her glare at the white cat.

"You know they're good for it most of the time. Just...let the good times roll and...and for today, meet them halfway," he finished.

Amy stood back up straight, then marched over to the couch. "I don't negotiate with terrorists," she muttered under her breath.

Raye chuckled. "I'm gonna have to disagree with that."

Lita came up and sat down on the left side of the couch as Amy took the middle. "Yeah, Amy, remember that day we first got the money?" Raye took up the seat on Raye's right. "I mean, what else would you call that?"

Amy scowled even deeper.

"I mean, you sure submitted to torture pretty quickly," Raye said, smirking to herself. "Remember?"

"Yes, Raye. Vividly." Amy turned to glower at her. "And we need never speak of that...sickening display of brutish, savage bullying again, thank you."

"Oh come on, Amy, don't tell me you're still mad about that!" Lita said, giving her a light little shove on her left side. "It's water under the bridge now!"

"Yeah, Amy, don't be shitty!" Raye gave her a similar light shove on her right side. Amy was entirely unamused. "I mean, we said we were sorry, and maybe it wasn't the nicest thing we've ever done, but that was months ago! It's a funny story now!"

"There is nothing funny about that little violation of the Geneva convention that you two committed," Amy grumbled.

"Hey, you owe us for doing that!" Lita insisted. "You were going to throw the money away! If it wasn't for us, that money would be sitting at the bottom of the lake, and we'd all be stuck fighting the negaverse with no equipment!"

"Yeah, Amy, you should be thanking us!" Raye agreed.

Amy, who still had her arms folded over her chest, did not look at all ready to dispel any sort of gratitude. "You could have achieved the exact same end by participating in a rational and reasonable discussion with me, in which you used your words to convince me that the rewards outweighed the risk."

"Yeah, but...our way was so much easier and had a much better chance of success," Raye said, suppressing a giggle. Amy hunched over even further.

"Amy, Amy, answer this simple question." Lita put her hand on Amy's shoulder. "True or false, the million dollars has been immensely helpful in our attempts to fight the negaverse."

Amy glanced around, still frowning. "True," she forced out.

"True or false, us using aggressive negotiation tactics to convince you to keep the money was a big reason why you didn't try to get rid of it." Lita leaned in towards Amy's face.

Amy closed her eyes, then heaved a great sigh. "True," she grumbled.

"Ergo, you should be thanking us for caring about you enough to do that to you!" Raye said, leaning in close to her other side.

Amy opened her eyes again, glare darting from one girl to the other. "No."

"Okay, fine, be a baby about it," Lita said, standing up and grinning.

"Waitwaitwait," Mina said suddenly, kneeling down in front of her computer and looking at the screen. "Venus doesn't have any moons either?" Her head bowed. "Bummer."

Amy cleared her throat. "Yes, Mina, you don't have any...'minions', so can you please focus and—"

"But..." Lita kneeled down next to Mina and tapped in some input, "...Jupiter currently has sixty-two known moons on record!"

"Holy crap, you could have your own platoon!" Raye said.

"And..." Lita did a few more manipulations on the keyboard. "Saturn has sixty!"

"Add it all together and we'd have our own...like, company! Almost a small battalion!" Raye said.

Amy buried her face in her hands.

"Oh, buck up Amy, you and Mina can borrow my minions," Lita said. "And probably Saturn's too, unless she wants to be a bitch about it."

"Wait!" Mina jumped up. "That's it! After we're done with this negaverse business, the scouts and all our minions should form, like, a private military contractor to make money!"

"No, Mina, we can't," Amy said, voice strained and tired.

"Can't, or won't?" Mina asked, leaning in towards Amy. "Come on Amy, we could travel around the world, selling our services to the highest bidder, overthrowing dictatorships..."

Raye thought for a second. "I think if you add it all together, it would be around...one hundred and seventy five total superhumans, so that's at least a great start."

"They're discovering new moons constantly," Darien pointed out. "And, if you count Trans-Neptunian objects, trojan moons, and large asteroids, we're closer to three hundred and fifty." He pointed at Amy. "See? Intellectual."

"Freedom fighters would be falling all over themselves to recruit our services!" Lita said. "We could single-handedly end the Israel-Palestine conflict!"

"Come on Amy, you would totally be into that!" Mina said. "You could be like M, and we would be like your double oh agents!"

"I don't want to be M," Amy moaned into her hands.

"Well, okay, you can be a double oh agent too, M could be...like...Greg, after you marry him," Mina suggested, grinning.

"Serena," Amy choked out. "Come here."

"Waitwait," Mina said, walking over to Lita, Raye and Darien. "If we had...one hundred and seventy five members on the team, what would the tontine look like?"

"Let's calculate that out," Lita said, running over to the whiteboard.

"Serena." Amy still had her face in her hands. "Please make them stop. Please, please make them stop."

"Oh...come on, Amy," Serena said, trying to suppress laughter. "They're...having fun."

"They'll listen to you, please make them stop," Amy begged.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Amy, normally I'd feel bad for you, but I'm still on some painkillers, and I ate like eight donuts already today." Serena shrugged. "So I kinda just...find this funny."

Amy didn't move, sitting there, slumped over in defeat.

"Amy, are...are you crying?" Serena asked.

"No," she said thickly.

"Okay, then..." she reached forward and grabbed her arm. "Show me your face."

"No, I don't want to," Amy said stubbornly, holding her hands over her face.

"Okay, okay...you're crying, come on Amy, it's not a big deal, I'm sure your presentation is great, and we'll...okay, here." She let Amy go. "I have an idea, here's what we'll do."

Amy finally dropped her hands and wiped the insides of her eyes off with her fingers. "What?"

Serena leaned in to Amy's ear and started whispering. Darien, meanwhile, was grinding out the numbers on the whiteboard.

"Okay, one hundred and seventy five people, twenty-five hundred dollars a head, starting amount of four hundred and thirty seven thousand five hundred." He made a quick spreadsheet in red marker. "So, even if this negaverse stuff got really bloody and everybody but one died in the next few months, that's still not a bad golden parachute for whoever makes it. But..."

Serena finished her little idea. Amy recoiled.

"You want me to _reward_ them for their unreasonable behavior?!" Amy asked. "Are you—"

"Amy. You're meeting them halfway. You're appeasing them. Sometimes, that's all it takes."

"But...that's what The Cheesecake Factory was for," she complained.

"And that was a very nice thing to do, Amy, but it cost you like...two hundred dollars. Come on, you can do this. These are the things you can do when you have funds." Serena rubbed her back. "That's my advice. Sometimes you gotta dangle a treat."

Amy looked down at the ground and grimaced. "Okay, _fine_. But I don't have the stomach to tell them, _you_ tell them!"

"Nono, you are telling them!" Serena insisted, standing up and grabbing Amy's arm. "You can do it. Come on." She guided Amy over towards the whiteboard. Amy took in a deep breath and shook her head, but complied with Serena's guidance.

"Holy crap!" Mina yelled, then spun around and looked at Amy and Serena. "Guys! Look at this!"

"Assuming at least two people in the tontine are still alive in eighty-five years, or about the time you girls would turn a hundred, there would be seventy-one million dollars in there," Darien said, pointing at his equations with his marker.

"Seventy-one mil!" Mina screeched. "I would totally kill all of you for that much money!"

Everyone turned their head to look at Mina. She glanced around underneath the glares.

"Well, not...not you guys, but...some of the minions. I mean, I'm not gonna get along with all of them, so...maybe the ones who I think are jerks." Mina shrugged.

"Uh-huh," Darien said dryly.

"OKAY!" Amy said loudly, still scowling. "Everyone, listen! In light of certain...circumstances, I am postponing my presentation until tomorrow, and we are having another team morale event tonight!" She raised her right index finger up in the air. "One final evening of fun and games before everyone re-focuses back onto business! There is a summer carnival opening this afternoon down near the docks, and we will be attending! The carnival is both a psychological ploy by the city to get spirits up after all the damage done in the recent attack, and a fundraiser to gather money for the rebuilding effort. So, everything will be absurdly overpriced, but it's all for a good cause, so it's okay! The operations account will be paying for everyone's deluxe pass, which allows you to cut the lines for all the rides. The operations account will also be paying for as many games and as much food as you all would like, and you are all free to stay as late as you would like!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Raye said, leaning up on a blank spot on the whiteboard.

"Yes, I will pay for everything using scout money, on ONE condition!" Amy looked around. "You all get all your...giggles out tonight, and show up here tomorrow ready to listen to what I have to say, and ready to resume treating this business with the seriousness it deserves!"

"Okay, okay," Lita said, chuckling to herself and going up to Amy. "Come on, don't be mad, we're still riding a high, sorry for trying to have some fun. Thank you, though, that sounds like a great morale event."

"And I've officially negotiated with terrorists," Amy mumbled to herself, pouting.

"Again!" Raye added, laughing.

"Okay, just so I don't make myself look like a jackass later, is this...girls' night out, or am I in on it too?" Darien looked around.

"Oh come on, stop with the misguided attempts to be a...loner, or whatever. Of course you're included, it's a team morale event," Serena said dismissively.

"And, Darien, you have plenty of...giggles...to get out of your system as well, and tonight is your chance to get them out, and out they had better be by tomorrow." Amy glared at Darien. "So, yes. You're coming."

Darien pointed at Amy, grinning. "Said your mom, boom."

Amy closed her eyes and shook her head as everyone else giggled.

"Definitely liked him better mean," she muttered.

"

**Docks, July 11th, 7:37 PM**

"Alright. Call out which one you want," Darien said, tossing a baseball up and down in his right hand. He was turned away from a booth that had several small targets set up next to various stuffed animals.

"Three out of five for the small ones," the carnival worker said as he set four other baseballs down on the table. "Five out of five for the big ones."

"Yeah, I know how to read," Darien said dryly. "Just because you didn't learn until you were twenty-eight..."

Serena pointed at the top left corner of the back of the booth, at a large black cat. "That one looks like Luna!" The doll had two small targets, not much larger than a baseball, on either side, as well as one right above.

Immediately, Darien hurled the ball at the leftmost target, grabbing the second ball in the same motion as the first projectile landed dead center. Spinning around, he casually lobbed the second at the rightmost target, again smacking it right in the center. He grabbed a baseball in either hand, simultaneously chucking both, and getting both to hit the designated targets. And then, he picked the last one up, tossed it up into the air, caught it in his right, then turned his body to look the other way. He tossed the ball over his shoulder without looking, listening to hear the sound of the target getting knocked off it's perch.

"How'd you get so good at this?" Serena asked. All five girls were holding assorted stuffed animals, both small and large, in giant plastic bags, the bounty that Darien had spent the last half-hour procuring at all the game booths.

"Well, at the orphanage, we took a lot of field trips to carnivals, and...one of the great joys of my young life was ruining the days of carny folk," Darien explained.

The man behind the booth slowly brought a large stuffed animal out from underneath the desk.

"Yeah, that's right, come render onto Caesar!" Darien said, beckoning his hands towards the employee.

"Uh, sir—"

"Hey, hey." Darien pointed at the man. "Less talk, more baseballs."

"Uh...sir, you can't play anymore," he said uneasily. "I'm...I'm cutting you off."

"Oh, after one round?!" Darien said, grinning. "So you're an even bigger bitch than the woman over at the dartboard booth!"

"Sir, go away," he said flatly.

"What, did I touch a nerve? Is she your sister? Or your wife? Or, wait, is she both?!" Darien grabbed the large black cat toy from the table.

"I'm gonna have to ask you to back off," the man said slowly.

"Come on, Darien," Lita said, grabbing him by the shoulder and tugging him away from the booth.

"Yeah, that's right!" Darien called out as Lita pulled him away. "Yeah, I see your crappy camera phone! Take my picture, warn your family, warn your friends!"

"Are...are you drunk?" Raye asked, raising an eyebrow at Darien.

"No." Darien handed the large cat to Serena, who took it in her arms. "I just hate carnies. They're my least favorite type of people after the Yazuka."

"I may regret this, but...why?" Serena asked.

"Everything...buncha jerks," Darien said, smirking. "Rigged carnival games, pompous attitudes, inbreeding, crappy clothes..."

"How...nice," Amy said dryly.

"Well, we all have certain types of people we just don't see eye-to-eye with," Mina said, as the group started heading over to the food court across the walkway. "Nothing wrong with that. For me, it's Mexicans."

"Really?" Lita asked, looking at Mina.

"Well...kind of...I mean, personally, I don't really know, but I grew up listening to my mom bitching about how they steal jobs and...cruise around in low-riders and listen to rap music." Mina shrugged. "Kinda...hard to get all that out of your head."

"Uh...okay there, Rush Limblonde," Darien said uneasily. "Anyway, I've been on the coaster like three dozen times already, so after we get some food, we can load all of these animals into my car and I'll drop them off at headquarters tomorrow."

"Alright." Serena quickly took a seat at the nearest table. "Time to break my fast."

"I don't think six hours counts as a fast," Lita said, sitting down next to her. The others quickly found their seats around the plastic picnic table as well, setting the bevy of dolls down.

"I'm actually not that hungry, I ate all those scones half an hour ago," Darien said. "Don't worry about me."

"You don't have to hang around here if you don't want to eat," Raye said. "We'd understand."

"Well, I already got kicked out of all the game booths, so I think I'll just stay here," Darien said. "And...y'know, I kinda like hanging out with you girls."

"Well, that's nice to know," Serena said happily, flagging down a waiter.

"Besides, I wanna see how many corndogs you can eat," Darien said.

Serena pointed at Darien. "My record's eight."

At this, Amy covered her eyes with her right hand and slowly shook her head back and forth.

"

AN: I wish fanfictions could have soundtracks so I could have put _The Cars_ on in the background during these scenes. Alas.

Anywho, this chapter was just a nice good time. Not crucial to the plot, but some character advancement, a lot of comedy, and just a breather chapter to establish changed relationships. It's a little different, but I liked writing it.

Not sure when 22 is coming, hopefully by friday but it's hard to say.


	22. Escalation

Chapter 22: Escalation

AN: Alright, enough fun, time to get serious again. Or as serious as I can manage, I guess.

"

**Headquarters, July 12th, 8:58 AM**

"Oooooohhh," Serena groaned. She was splayed out on one of the couches, looking up at the ceiling, the rest of the crew gathered around her except Amy, who was plugging in a couple of small devices on the side of the big screen television. Luna and Artemis were watching her from the coffee table.

"You holding up okay?" Raye asked.

"Just stay close to the trash can," Lita said, pointing down at the small tin container next to Serena's head.

"I'm not puking," Serena insisted. "If I puke, the food wins."

Amy rolled her eyes, turning around to look at her. "Was the ninth corndog really necessary, Serena?"

Serena thrusted her arms up in the air, towards the ceiling. "New personal record!"

"Your parents must be so proud of you," Amy said tersely, turning her tablet on and tapping the screen. "And I won't even get into the sixty ounces of lemonade."

"None of that really surprised me," Mina said from behind the couch. "The elephant ear, though? That was just poor sportsmanship."

"I didn't intend for you to take my offer to pay for everything as a challenge!" Amy said, successfully getting the contents of her tablet screen to show up on the large TV.

"Well, whatever the challenge was, I think she won," Darien said, grinning.

"I was so disgusted after the ninth corndog, I almost decided to become a vegetarian on the spot," Amy grumbled. "Well, I don't care how big a stomachache you have, Serena, it's time for you to listen up!"

"I'm listening!" Serena insisted. "And I'll be fine, I just need a couple hours to purge all the grease from my system, I can listen."

"I'll bet you gained eight pounds last night!" Amy cried. "So, let's just open our meeting with that. The moment you're past the stomachache, you're going to start working that weight off. I'm sure you gained weight while you were wearing the cast, which is acceptable, but I want you back in field shape in two weeks!" She held two fingers up on her right hand.

"Ten days," Serena said. "I promise."

"Alright, nine o'clock!" Darien said. "To business."

"Yes, let's hope," Amy said darkly.

"Hey, hey, Amy, I'm sorry," Darien said, still smirking. "Sorry if I pushed you a bit yesterday, it's just...I dunno, I'm really happy right now." He shrugged. "I've just...never had friends like this, it feels pretty great."

Amy sighed. "Darien, that's not fair!"

"What?"

"I can't possibly stay mad at you after saying something like that!" she moaned. "It's...it's okay, I understand, I'm glad you're happy, okay, okay...I'll calm down, sorry." She tapped her tablet screen, changing the output on the screen behind her. "Okay, first item. Financial transparency." Several numerical figures were shown on screen. "For a myriad of reasons, I've decided to be more open about our financial situation, and at least inform you all about where we are." She zoomed in on the top line of text on the screen. "Our primary operations account was just topped off this morning and sits at an even hundred thousand. The secondary operations account sits at just shy of one hundred and forty-three thousand."

With some effort, Serena sat up, and allowed the others to join her in sitting on the couch.

"We have assorted growth accounts out there, of course, they're detailed here, but I'll just sum it up quickly. Add them all together and they're currently worth just more than four hundred thousand dollars. Obviously, it's not as easy to access those accounts, but entirely possible if required. So, we currently still have, give or take, six hundred and forty five thousand dollars." Amy tapped the screen to bring it down to the bottom of the first slide. "And if anyone would like to audit me about the spent three hundred and fifty five thousand, I have that breakdown here. One hundred and fifty thousand for the radar, ten thousand for rent on this warehouse, fifty thousand for personal accounts, six thousand for the mainframe—"

"Eh, don't worry about it, we...we trust you," Serena said. "Go on."

"Alright, good." Amy nodded. "Just for the sake of knowledge sharing, we have five personal operations account that still contain a grand total of right about thirty-three thousand dollars. And the tontine sits at fifteen thousand and seventy-two dollars, thank you for your contribution, Darien."

"Not a problem," Darien answered. "Surprised you're so pro-tontine."

"No, the tontine...the tontine is good," Amy said, nodding. "It's a nice team-building exercise, reminds us that we're all in this together...and if something happens to one of us, it's a little way that we can feel like they're still here. Since I know you're all curious, if at least two of us live to be a hundred, that tontine will grow to two and a half million dollars."

"It seems so...small now," Mina mused. "On the bright side, I..._probably_ wouldn't be willing to kill anyone over two and a half rocks."

"Right." Amy tapped the screen again, bringing up a new slide. "Second item. Headquarters. I believe it would be in our best interest to move."

"Aw," Serena said, looking around. "I was just growing attached to this place."

"It'll be insignificant," Amy said. "We're moving to warehouse ninety-four across the lot, more or less identical to this one, and will be taking everything with us, of course. The negaverse knows that we spend a lot of time here, and even though they may be under the impression we just use it as a kitchen, they may return here in the future if they run out of other options. The only shame is that I'll have to get another construction crew to rebuild the lockdown mechanism, but that'll be a minor cost in the grand scheme. I've rented a moving van for this afternoon, so we'll load everything up and head on over. I'll cover our tracks, it should be enough to keep them from easily locating us."

"Alright, as soon as we're done we can start boxing everything up," Darien offered.

"Third item. The final general of the negaverse, Malachite." The screen showed several lines of text, his name at the top and some details along the body. "We've met him once before, and based on what we know he was probably at least partially involved in planning over the past few months, but now he's the primary enemy, and we can assume he's going to have complete tactical control over the negaverse from here on out."

Luna jumped up from the coffee table and scampered over. "Me and Artemis briefed Amy on what we know, and this is going to be important, so please pay attention."

"Yes. Per the words of Luna and Artemis, Malachite is the most powerful and dangerous of the four generals, and possibly more lethal than Beryl herself. He's also very smart, and will use his brain as much as his brawn." Amy pointed at the bullet points on the screen. "He will be our greatest challenge yet, and I expect him to learn from Zoicite's mistakes and come at us with brand new strategies."

"With one interesting caveat," Luna threw in. "Zoicite and Malachite had a...special relationship back in the day, and if that relationship still exists, or rather existed up to a couple weeks ago, then that changes things."

"Special relationship...does that mean what I think it means?" Mina asked.

"Yes, I think so," Amy said. "They were quite fond of one another, and assuming that was still the case when Serena dropped several hundred tons on top of her, then he'll have a personal vendetta. That could make him all the more dangerous and violent, but it also may make him careless and prone to a mistake that we'll be able to take advantage of. It could go either way, and we should be prepared for either. But I feel quite confident in saying that he has a personal reason to make all of us suffer, particularly Serena."

Serena nodded. "I'll be ready for it."

"However, he can not afford to be entirely careless, and I believe he knows this, so I anticipate at least one very bold and game-changing move from him at some point. Desire for revenge aside, he will probably view himself as the last chance for the negaverse, as Beryl will not want to put herself at risk without the negaforce at her back. Which brings us to item number four." Amy tapped the screen again. "Zoicite was a dangerous foe, but her plan of attack was unfocused and harried, unwilling to commit to any long term goals. She went back and forth between attempts to wipe us out, attempts to wipe the city out, and attempts to gather human energy, when committing to one of those three may have produced better results. She explored some tactics that were effective against us, such as spreading us out and forcing us to cover great distances to fight a large number of enemies, but could have done much more with those concepts than she did. It's been a couple weeks since the last negaverse attack, and I have no doubt they're low on resources, but they'll come up with something soon. The question is, what will it be?"

Darien stood up, coming closer to the screen and peering at it. "Well...if I'm understanding this, then we need to pool up our frequent flier miles," he muttered.

"Yes, exactly," Amy said. "Malachite will trying to avoid putting himself, or negaverse resources, at risk until Beryl is satisfied with the energy she's collected. Assuming they're not yet at that point, and I don't believe they are, his first priority should be gathering energy. And I believe he will look to expand on Zoicite's concept, and do this far away from us. Perhaps many thousands of miles, hoping to go outside our jurisdiction and guarantee success when we're unable to interfere. And we can not give Malachite free reign to do whatever he wants outside of this city. So, as difficult and disadvantageous as it may be for us, I think the Sailor Scouts may be forced to go global."

"How are we ever going to pull that off?" Raye asked. "I mean, how would we even know if they're up to something in another country? The radar only has an effective range of a few miles outside the city limits."

"The universe really is asking too much of us," Lita agreed.

"It's definitely going to be difficult," Amy said. "I've set up a web crawler to watch major international news websites and alert me when certain buzzwords indicate negaverse activity. And at the very least, we know what Malachite looks like. It's a very clumsy solution, but to do nothing would be to allow Malachite complete freedom to do as he pleases."

"We have no idea how much energy Beryl needs to accomplish her goals," Artemis said, trotting over towards the TV screen. "She could be ninety percent of the way there or ten percent of the way there. But the more plots we force Malachite to come up with in order to get that energy, the more chances we have at eliminating him before he can."

"So, even though we can't stop him from gathering energy completely, as our response times will be several days, opposed to minutes or hours, we have to at least try." Amy nodded. "And of course, I could be far off base, but after the incident a few weeks ago, I want to be prepared for unconventional tactics."

"

**Headquarters, July 12th, 12:23 PM**

Serena, transformed into her superheroine alter ego, slowly stepped onto the large blue mat. Everything else had either been packed into boxes or moved by the large back door, ready to be placed in the back of the moving truck when it showed up. Serena's outfit was a little tight around the middle, her injury preventing her from working out, but it was time to put that behind her. Lita stood at the other end of the mat, both of her hands up in front of her, palms pointed towards Serana as they advanced towards the middle.

"Okay, let's just see your speed!" Lita called out, similarly in Sailor Jupiter form. The other girls were gathered around the mat, Amy with the tablet in her hands.

"Okay," Amy said loudly as Serena and Lita got up close to each other. "I'd like to discuss a large expenditure." Serena slowly started jabbing her fists into Lita's large palms, Lita absorbing each one. "In light of our need to be capable of quick and long-distance mobilization, we need a mobile computer system." Amy held the tablet screen out towards the group, quickly showing them a laptop-styled computer inside a large, heavy-duty metal suitcase. "Something like this."

Serena's jabs sped up until her hands were blurs, tapping Lita's open palms at the rate of several times per second.

"By borrowing a couple slivers of our moon gem, I should be able to give it negaverse-detecting capabilities with a range of ten miles without compromising our primary detector. However, in order to pack that sort of computing power into a portable case, I am looking at spending about a hundred thousand dollars. And I have no guarantee that we're going to require it, so I would understand and listen to any objections."

"No objection!" Serena grunted, her punches forcing Lita's hands back towards her body.

"Alright, then I will start the process of getting that together, if all of you agree..." she looked up and realized nobody was paying attention to her. They were watching Serena and Lita. Amy looked over as well.

Serena had managed to push Lita all the way onto her side of the mat, fists a dervish of punishing speed, Lita wilting underneath the assault. Finally, Lita stepped off the mat, hands raised up by her head.

"Uncle, uncle!" she cried, wincing in pain and shaking her hands out. "Hold on, give me a second!"

Serena immediately stopped, looking at Lita, then down at her fists. "W-what, I...Lita, I'm sorry, I—"

"No, it's fine, it's fine." Lita kept shaking her hands around. "I...I just..."

Serena looked down and realized that she had pushed Lita all the way to the edge of the mat. She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh...must be...one of my good days." She looked up to find everyone else staring at her.

"Darien, could you take over?" Lita asked, looking at her beat up palms. "Just spar with her?"

"No problem," Darien said, grinning. He stepped onto the far end of the mat, quickly transforming into Tuxedo Mask. He took his mask off and discarded it to the floor, then put his fists up. "Alright, Serena, feeling frisky? Let's go!"

Serena turned around and took a combat stance, shaking her confusion off.

"Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you. You can have a free hit to start it off if you want!" He put his hands out to his sides.

And then, Darien hit the mat with great force.

Serena, who had been on one side of the blue surface, was suddenly on the other side, right arm extended out to her side, having clotheslined Darien right into the ground. There was just one problem. It wasn't clear that Serena had actually travelled from one side of the mat to the other. Rather, it seemed that she had been on one side, and then was on the other, as if the universe had glitched and simply instantly moved her about twenty feet. Barely perceptible footprints in the mat were the only clue that she had, in fact, needed to move herself.

She stood there, over Darien, frozen for about a half second, then immediately raised her hands up. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! I...I don't—"

Darien laughed, wincing and getting to his feet. "No, no, it's fine, my own fault, I..."

"Serena?" Amy asked. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Uhhh..." Serena looked around. "I think?"

"Okay, okay, let's...let's go again." Darien said, pulling out his cane. "You mind if I use this?"

Serena shook her head. "No, that's...fine," she said uneasily. Serena took a couple steps back and Darien took up his fighting stance. He stepped forward, bringing the rod across his body and aiming to slap it across Serena's face lightly.

Serena flashed forward and grabbed Darien's right hand, halting the strike before it got there. She then headbutted him right in the nose, knocking him back slightly, while in the same motion punching his right wrist with her other hand. Darien lost his grip on his weapon and Serena whisked it out, then slipped her right foot behind Darien's left leg and yanked it forward, spinning him around.

She then took the ends of Darien's cane in either hand and quickly brought it over Darien's head, pulling it back towards her after it was level with his neck, putting him in a chokehold and pressing the back of his head against her chest.

As soon as she did this, she froze, then dropped the cane to the floor. "Sorry, sorry!"

"Uh...it's fine," Darien said, standing back up and brushing his front off. "Okay, that...that was good—"

"Darien," Amy said, taking a couple steps towards the two. "Could you...turn it up a bit, please?"

Darien bent down and picked up his cane. "Yeah. Yeah, sure, I can do that."

"

**Headquarters, July 12th, 1:56 PM**

"Is it because she broke her back?" Raye asked, looking over at Amy. "Because I'll totally let you guys break my back if it means I can do that."

Darien grabbed Serena right wrist, then spun back the other way, whipping her around with him as he went to the ground. He landed on top of her, pinning her there with his weight.

"About time with that move," she chuckled. "Eighth time's the charm?"

"Something like that." He rolled off her. "Imagine what you'll be able to do when you shed that spare tire."

They both spun to their feet. Serena flash stepped in and threw herself right into him, Darien take a couple steps back to absorb it without falling down. He leaned back to avoid her headbutt, then tried to ward her off with a left hook. She swung her right arm out to block it, then socked him in the ribs with her left, driving him back into the corner.

"Still no ideas, Luna?" Amy asked, looking down at the black feline.

"Ideas tend to be your department, Amy," Luna said slowly. "I'm afraid nothing's come to mind. Nothing we can prove, in any case."

"Something's certainly changed," Amy mused. Darien had gotten out of the corner by quickly sidestepping away from it, gaining a bit of space behind him. Serena flashed in, but instead of crashing into him, stopped three feet short. Darien's right cross hit nothing but air, the expected target not there, and Serena simply flew to the opening and blasted him in the kidney.

"We should be grateful for it," Lita said. "We're gonna need it."

Serena had him off balance, so she used a sharp little kick to push his right foot backwards. She then simply pushed him down to the ground face-first, jumping up to land on his back and pin him there.

"Yeah, you do need to lose some weight," he laughed.

"Douche," she replied, smirking. She jumped back to her feet and Darien rolled over before kicking to his feet.

"Alright guys!" Amy said loudly. "The moving van will be here in about two minutes, so that's enough for now." She ran over to Serena as she walked off the mat. "Serena, do you have _any_ idea what might have changed? It could be important."

"Sorry, Amy, I don't." Serena shrugged. "I don't really...feel different or anything. Wish I could help."

"W-well, don't worry about it, it's a positive thing," Amy said. "We'll revisit the reasons why when appropriate."

"Yeah it's a positive thing," Darien said, quickly transforming back into his regular human form. "Maybe I won't have to do all the heavy lifting now."

"Uh-huh," Serena replied sarcastically.

"Besides, that was fun." He twisted his back to the left, cracking it. "Gotta do that more often." He cracked his back to the right.

"Hey, Jasonette Bourne!" Lita called out, holding her phone up in the air. "I recorded most of that on my phone, wanna watch after we move?"

"And after we move, I want to observe a few...other things," Amy added. "If that's okay, Serena."

"

**Headquarters, July 15th, 11:10 AM**

"Looks like I guessed right."

Amy held her tablet up in her hands, screen out towards the rest of the crew. A news story with a couple of pictures and lines of text was visible. Everyone got up off the couches and crowded around.

"What do you got?" Serena asked.

"News story just hit the wire, I've reviewed it and believe there's a very high probability that it's relevant." Amy brought the tablet back down and turned the screen back towards her. "Malachite's moved quickly, and he's acted as I expected. He's hatched his latest scheme, and he's done it in Las Vegas."

"Go on," Darien said, looking over Amy's shoulder.

"Last night, there were thousands of reports of exhaustion from a Las Vegas casino and hotel named The Bellagio, the grandest in all the city, so it seems," Amy began.

"That's really not all that uncommon for a major casino," Darien pointed out.

"Exhaustion to the point of collapsing," Amy said. "Hundreds of people who were inside the facility, as well as people who just left it, fell unconscious for no explainable reason."

"...again, actually, not all that surprising for a casino," Darien said.

"Well, the local authorities found it irregular enough to conduct an investigation." Amy scrolled her finger along the tablet screen. "It happened to so many people, at right around the same time, too much to be generic casino enthusiasts not taking enough breaks. I believe Malachite has somehow taken control of the man in charge of The Bellagio, and has repurposed the hotel and casino to collect energy."

"Well, sounds like he already screwed himself," Lita said, looking at the tablet screen. "Got a little overzealous with the energy absorption, maybe?"

"Yes, I'd be inclined to agree. Perhaps too eager to please Beryl after all the recent failures." Amy tapped the screen a few times to zoom in on some text.

"Maybe we don't even have to do anything," Raye said. "Just let the American authorities investigate and handle it. Maybe they can't stop him, but they can close down the facility."

"I'm afraid not, although we have caught a break there," Amy said. "The owner of The Bellagio released a statement just a few minutes ago, claiming that there was a malfunction in the ventilation system and a series of flukes caused a light sedative to spread through the building and knock people out. They've agreed to shut down and submit to a complete investigation for a couple weeks, as well as compensate those affected by the accident."

"That's not going to fly, is it?" Mina asked.

"I believe it will," Amy replied. "Assuming Malachite is behind this, then it will be rather simple for him to set things up to make it appear that the owner's statement is truth, and I imagine he will do all he can to accommodate the investigation and get it over with as fast as possible. Furthermore, The Bellagio is the most popular attraction in the city, and a massive part of the local economy, so there will be pressure to get it back up and running. There will be some public relations backlash, but again, the facility is highly popular and should be fine as long as they say and do the right things. And, all things considered, this facility has the potential to an absolute gold mine for the negaverse. Whatever amount of energy they require, they will be able to obtain through this."

Darien took the tablet and scrolled down a few lines. "The Bellagio expects to re-open by August 1st...so we've got two weeks. Maybe more if there are delays, but I doubt it."

"Correct." Amy nodded. "So, although it's going to be difficult, plus rather expensive, it looks like the Sailor Scouts will be going to America."

"I thought we already were in America," Mina said, forehead furrowing.

"Mina, not now," Amy said quickly.

"No, seriously, aren't we—"

"Mina, please," Amy said. "My tenative plan is for us to fly over there on the 27th and be settled in at a hotel by the 28th. I'll research flights and hotels today and have something solid by the afternoon. That will give us four days before they re-open to figure out what's going on and how we stop it, should be plenty of time. I will make sure our portable computer system is up and running by then."

"Alright." Darien nodded, handing the tablet back to Amy. "The working vacation."

"Hardly," Amy snorted. "I anticipate this will be our most difficult mission yet, for multiple reasons, far from a vacation."

"True enough," Darien mused, sitting back down. "Hmm...Las Vegas. We'll be entering a brand new...zone, fraught with peril and...danger."

Serena immediately sighed and shook her head.

"Yes, Las Vegas is most certainly a zone, and for us, most certainly containing danger." He pointed at Serena, smirking. "Serena, how would you phrase that?"

"Darien..."

"No, what would you call this...zone, that we will be entering? How would you describe it, given that it will be full of...danger?" he asked.

"Oh, you are _lucky_ we need you," Serena said, giving a tiny smirk nonetheless. "Also, I won't be going, so you can skip all that."

"What, you got plans?" Lita asked.

"I'm afraid there's simply no way that my parents will allow me to go to America without them." Serena shook her head.

"But they already _are_ in America—"

"Mina, stop it!" Serena interrupted. "So yeah, there's no way I can go. They're definitely going to notice if I'm gone for five days, and with my friends or not, they won't have it. Raye, Mina, Amy, I believe you three would encounter similar problems."

Mina shrugged. "Honestly, they'd probably just...nod their heads and be happy I'm out of the house for a week."

"More importantly, we can't be caught out of position again," Serena continued. "Malachite could be hoping to lure all of us to Las Vegas, and then launch an attack to destroy this city. Remember, he probably wants to really hurt all of us, and targeting our home would definitely do that. So, some of us need to stay behind and be ready for an attack."

"Yes, very good Serena, I was just about to touch on that," Amy said, nodding. "Now, obviously, Darien and Lita will have the easiest time of leaving town for a week, and I have to go so I can get on-site and concoct a plan, so I will have to cook up a lie of some sort so my parents let me go. They're both quite busy and won't be able to accompany me, so if I were to tell them it has some significant academic purpose they should go along with it."

"You comfortable with telling that big of a lie?" Raye asked.

"Well...not usually, but...in this circumstance I'll just say it makes me and them...even," she said darkly. "And that's all I'm going to say about that."

An uneasy silence hung for a second.

"So yes," Serena said quickly. "Me, Raye and Mina will stay behind and watch the city, sorry girls."

"Nah, it's fine," Raye said. "Can't do most of the fun stuff in a place like Vegas yet anyway."

"This increases the risk and difficulty manifold," Amy said. "So, Darien, Lita, we're all going to have to really go the extra mile to make up for being shorthanded. We know very little about the situation over there, so I won't be able to come up with a detailed plan until we see what we're dealing with, and whatever that plan ends up being, we'll have to stick to it to the very letter."

"Yeah," Darien said. "Absolutely, no room for error, I'm down for that." He turned to Serena. "You sure there's no way you can come? We could really use your new...y'know, capabilities."

"Yeah, a twelve-second mile," Mina said, looking at Serena. "I'm not even mad that you shattered my record!"

"Or my bench press record," Lita threw in. "I mean, ten tons? Yeah, we could totally use you over there."

"I wish I could," Serena said. "I really do. But even if I could come up with some sort of lie, if there's any chance of my parents figuring it out, it's not worth it. I'd get in a world of trouble. I trust you guys can handle whatever you run into over there."

"Alright then!" Amy walked over to the computer. "I'll pull up as much information as I can, and see what I can put together. Lita, Darien, you two do what you must to prepare. In twelve days, we are going to America."

"Guys, seriously, I'm pretty sure we're already in America—"

MINA!" Everyone chorused.

"

**Kingston Airport, July 27th, 6:55 AM**

"Alright, loading starts in five minutes," Amy announced, looking up at the large wall clock. The gang was gathered by the terminal, away from the other awaiting passengers.

"Alright." Darien stood up from the small seat, a gym bag slung over his shoulder. "Ladies. I am the hero that our city deserves, but not the one it needs right now, so depart I must."

"Will you give it a rest with that?" Serena snarked, rolling her eyes. "You're way closer to The Green Hornet."

"Well that's just a low blow," Darien chuckled.

"Our return flight is on the 3rd," Amy said. "Gives us plenty of time. If you girls run into any problems with the computer, or whatever else, just give me a call."

"Hey, Amy, if we finish early, can we go see a show before we come back?" Darien asked. "Since we're not coming back until the 3rd anyway."

"Darien, please not now," Amy pleaded. "I really need everyone engaged right now—"

"I am engaged! I'm saying after, if we succeed! You know, a reward. We could go see Penn and Teller!" Darien suggested.

Amy closed her eyes and sighed.

"Oooh, we could go see Criss Angel!" Lita said, pointing at Darien.

"Lita, don't encourage him," Amy begged, putting her right hand up to her eyes in exasperation.

"Hey, you only get so many chances in your life to see a show in Las Vegas!" Lita insisted.

"Wait wait, better idea," Darien said. "We should go see Cirque De Soleil!"

Suddenly, Amy dropped her hand from her face, eyes widening. She glanced about awkwardly. "Cirque...Cirque De Soleil?"

"Yeah, they've got a bunch of shows down there!" Lita said. "That'd be the best!"

Amy pursed her lips in thought. "Which...which one could we see?"

"We could go see _Love_," Darien said.

"The Beatles one?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, The Beatles one," Lita answered.

Amy's eyes darted back and forth between Darien and Lita for a second. Finally, she pointed at Darien.

"After!" she said sternly.

"Well, yeah, of course," Darien said, grinning.

"And only if we succeed!" Amy added.

Serena leaned in towards Amy, a naughty little smirk on her face. Amy withdrew away from her slightly.

"W-what?" Amy said defensively, going a little red. "If it's after, there's no reason for us to...not."

Serena raised an eyebrow.

"And I...kind of...always wanted to see Cirque De Soleil." She shrugged. Serena chuckled and patted her on the shoulder.

Luna stuck her nose out of the gym bag slung over Raye's shoulder. "Well, you three enjoy yourself, but focus on the mission!" she whispered. "And please, keep an eye on Artemis, who knows what he'll get up to down there."

Raye poked her finger on Luna's nose, pushing her back into the bag. "Get down! Someone might see you."

"You sure you don't want to come too?" Lita asked, peering into the small opening in the zippered bag.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't possibly stand to be in one of those carriers for such a long period of time," Luna said sadly. "Pity, too. _I_ want to see Cirque De Soleil."

"Well, just a couple minutes," Amy said. "We'll be in touch." Everyone came together, putting their hands in the middle. "Be ready for anything. We've never been separated like this before, but we can do it!"

"We'll keep your computer chair warm," Mina said, looking at Amy.

"I'll miss the sparring," Darien said, looking over at Serena.

"Physical, or verbal?" Serena asked.

"Both," he answered, smirking.

The half dozen threw their hands up into the air, and then, Darien, Lita and Amy turned and joined the line to board.

"

AN: I saw _Love_ in Las Vegas six years ago. One of the highlights of my life. I recommend it, particularly if you're a fan of The Beatles. Great show.

Anyway, this chapter is a lot of exposition and setup, but I suppose that's okay. Next chapter might not be until mid-next week, tough to say for sure. I don't anticipate having access to a computer over the weekend.

But shouldn't be any longer than a week, worst-case scenario.


	23. A Little More Conversation

Chapter 23: A Little More Conversation

AN: For the sake of timeline and simplicity, all dates and times used in this chapter are relative to the timezone where the scouts typically live (AKA that bizarre Japan-America combo that does not and will not ever make sense, or where Serena/Raye/Mina are). It's a little misleading, but is better than me jumping around and making it seem the scouts are time travelling.

"

**Flight 18, July 27th, 9:05 AM**

"It's funny, I would never, ever drink ginger ale on anything other than a plane," Darien muttered, popping the tab open on the can. Lita looked down at the four empty cans in front of him.

"Making up for lost ginger ale?" she asked.

"I...I'm not a big fan of flying," he admitted.

Amy peeked out the window to her left. "Statistically it's the safest way to travel."

"Oh, well, thanks so much Miss Kent." Darien rolled his eyes. "Honestly, it took me a few years to feel comfortable with cars, for...obvious reasons," he added. "The key thing is for me to not think about what we're doing."

"You mean cruising at thirty thousand feet and sixty hundred miles per hour in a big tube of metal?" Lita asked, smirking.

"Yeah, that, can you please not?" He held his hand out towards her.

"Well, only six more hours in the sky," Lita said faux-comfortingly.

"Lita, stop that," Amy said warningly.

"Okay, okay...sorry." She patted Darien's knee. "Anyway, Amy, what's the...expense report situation for this trip like? Just so I don't screw up."

"Me and Darien opened a credit card exclusively for this trip," Amy whispered. "We'll use that for whatever expenses we accrue, we'll pay it off when we're done, then we'll destroy the card and close the account when we leave. One thousand dollar limit, I won't go a penny higher. And the Cirque De Soleil tickets are coming out of that, so have some fun, but not too much, and keep your mind on the mission, please. And save your receipts."

"You've come so far over the last few months," Lita said, reaching over to touch her shoulder. "Thank you, Amy, that's a very generous setup."

"Yes, well...I trust you," she said. "If you want to express gratitude, then focus on this mission. If we can somehow take Malachite out right here, that's fewer of these expensive trips we have to take in the future. I mean, I'm not exactly depending on it, but it would be nice if we had some money left over after Beryl's down."

"

**Headquarters, July 27th, 12:06 PM**

"And if there is money left over after Beryl's down, rest assured that I will see to it that all of us get a significant...reward, shall we say, for our efforts," Serena said, taking a draw from a champagne glass full of a light brown liquid. "We will have deserved it."

Raye looked at the glass, raising an eyebrow. "Serena, is that—"

"It's apple juice," Serena said quickly, raising it up and looking at it. "I just love these glasses."

"Speaking of significant rewards, Mina, how's the laptop?" Raye asked. Mina was kneeling down in front of the coffee table, playing with the small computer.

"There is _so _much freaking porn out there!" Mina said. "I mean, I always kind of felt like there was something wrong with me, some of the stuff I was in to, like I had some kind of problem. But on the internet, I find like a thousand other people into the same things, and it's like...I guess I'm fine!"

"Wow." Raye quickly looked away. "_So_ not going to inquire further about that," she muttered.

Mina looked over at Serena. "And on the topic of things romantic—"

"There is nothing romantic about porn," Serena said flatly. "Not hating, just saying."

Mina shrugged. "Depends on the porn. So, anyway, Serena, I didn't want to say anything until they were gone, but did you catch how freaking disappointed Darien was when he found out you couldn't come to Vegas?"

Serena shrugged. "Obviously, the more people participating in the mission, the better chance we'd have of success."

"Well, yeah, but he didn't seem nearly as down about me or Raye not being able to go," Mina pointed out. "I'm not saying, I'm just saying. Just another thing to add to the long, long list of evidence that his hormones are trying to climb a fifty-foot wall to get at you."

"Eh...I think he just likes the sparring," Serena said. "Ever since Zoicite got him, he's really obsessed with improving himself and preventing it from happening again." She drained the glass into her mouth.

"Yeah, that too, but believe me. As an expert—"

"You're _not_ an expert!" Raye said suddenly. "Mina, you're...you're not an expert. You're a pervert. There's a huge difference."

"Is there?" Mina put her hand up to her chin in thought. "Well, fine, as a...pervert, believe me, I can tell. When you two are together, it gets awful hot in here."

"

**McCarran International Airport, July 27th, 3:58 PM**

"Oh, God, yeah, it's just _boiling_ here," Darien muttered, putting his right hand up between his face and the sun to no real effect. "Whew!"

"And it's only going to get hotter. Everyone adjust your internal clocks, because it's still mid-late morning here in Las Vegas." Amy announced. The three stepped to the sidewalk, Darien with a large suitcase in both hands, Lita with two giant gym bags slung over her shoulders, and Amy with one large travel bag in one hand and her tablet in the other.

"Can't even see this screen, all this glare," she muttered. "Okay, the shuttle should be here in about...one minute." She tucked the tablet into the front pocket of her travel bag and zipped it. "We're going to the Flamingo, a hotel within walking distance of the Bellagio. We'll go there, get settled, and then try to figure out how we can scope things out without anyone seeing us."

"It's Las Vegas," Darien said, bending down slightly towards the two girls. "This city doesn't sleep, I don't think there's much chance of us managing to sneak around."

"We'll figure something out," Amy said.

"I can already feel that jet-lag starting to kick my ass," Lita said quietly. "So as soon as we get to the hotel, I am eating some dinner, and then sleeping for, like, eighteen hours to reset my clock."

"Oh, yeah, speaking of that, what's the sleeping situation like?" Darien asked. "Because..."

"Don't worry, I thought of that, of course," Amy said. "Three beds, two in one room, one in a side room. Me and Lita will take the ones in the main room, and you can have the one in the secondary room."

"Okay, good." Darien nodded. "And you guys should...probably barricade the door."

Amy and Lita turned to look up at him.

"And why would we have to do that?" Lita asked nervously.

"Sometimes, when I sleep in a place that I'm not familiar with I...sleepwalk," Darien mumbled. "Happened at the hospital like, twice, actually."

"I don't think that's really barricade-worthy," Lita said slowly.

"Yeah, but I...I kind of sleep in the nude," he said, shrugging. "So...yeah."

"Wait, you what?" Lita raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you heard me." He chuckled a couple times. "I sleep nude."

"No, you don't," Amy said sternly, watching the shuttle slowly pull up by the curb.

"Yes, I do," he insisted.

"No, not this week, you don't!" Amy demanded. "That's unacceptable!"

Darien leaned over and looked at Amy's face, seeing she had gone red for reasons that didn't involve the sun. "Well, you're free to come into my room and try to stop me," he retorted, grinning and holding back laughter.

Amy gave a little exasperated sigh, shook her head, and then boarded the shuttle after the doors slid open.

"Don't you want to become a doctor?" Darien teased as the three got into the large van. "Pretty sure you're gonna have to deal with naked people at some point."

"Serena's right," Amy muttered. "You _are_ lucky we need you."

"If you do something stupid while sleepwalking I'm taking video and sending it to Serena," Lita said. "Just as a warning."

"Hey, hey," Darien said, pointing at Lita. "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

"Yeah. Can't help but notice you're a little bummed that a certain someone isn't _staying _with you in Vegas, speaking of which." Lita leaned back in her chair. The shuttle waited there for a few seconds, but no one else came up to hitch the ride, so the doors slid shut and the van took off.

"Yeah," Darien admitted. "I mean, this goes for all you girls too, but...can't believe I'm saying this, but I do like being around her a lot."

"

**Headquarters, July 27th, 5:13 PM**

"Well, he obviously doesn't like being around me_ that_ much," Serena said, sitting up on the floor by the coffee table next to a box of half-eaten pizza.

"What makes you say that?" Raye asked, bending over her to grab a slice.

"Remember when he first started coming here to help us months ago? He drank beer to cope with being around us. Well, he still drinks beer when he's here, so obviously he still has problems with spending time with us."

"Oh, Serena, don't be a dope," Raye insisted. "That was obviously just an excuse so we'd let him drink."

"Well, why else would he drink?" Serena asked.

"Gee, where do I start?" Raye said. "His parents died in a car crash when he was six, he has total amnesia prior to the crash so he doesn't remember them at all, he has no known relatives, he lost his childhood to an orphanage, he had practically no friends up to less than a month ago...pick one."

"I mean, it's definitely not because of the taste," Mina said quickly.

Serena, Raye and Luna all turned to stare at her.

"One time he...set one of his beer cans down next to my soda can," she explained uneasily. "I didn't look and grabbed the wrong one." She shrugged. "Tastes like cat piss."

"And you know what cat...urine tastes like how?" Luna dared to ask.

"I have Artemis," Mina answered. "I mean, I know what it smells like, so I can kind of...infer what it probably tastes like. Oddly enough though, early today I did find a website dedicated to people who are aroused by the taste of—"

Raye immediately stuck her fingers into her ears. "Baaaaabababababababa!"

"You are gonna get _sooooo_ many viruses, Mina," Serena said. "Like, seriously, I already feel bad for your computer."

"Yeah, Amy already showed me how to kick the computer back to factory defaults," Mina admitted. "Got a feeling I'm gonna need that."

"So, anyway," Raye said loudly, giving Mina a look out of the corner of her eyes, "Darien is hitting the sauce for one, some, or all of those reasons. I mean, really, Jesus...you take my angst over my parents being such a small part of my life, multiply it by Amy's angst over her parents splitting, raise to a power equal to Lita's angst over her parents being dead, and then take the factorial of Mina's angst over her crappy parents, and you might just get into the ballpark of what Darien feels."

"Well, sprinkle on a bit of my angst too," Serena said.

Raye turned to stare at Serena.

"I'm not...comparing angst levels, but...my little brother can be pretty mean to me sometimes." Serena shrugged.

Raye just kept on staring.

"Also, I've asked for a pony for eight straight birthdays, guess how many ponies I have," Serena added. "Hint. It rhymes with hero."

"You are so lucky we don't all just...hate your guts," Raye said moodily.

"Thank you," Serena replied. "And I'm just...joking around." She reached over and put her hand on Raye's shoulder. "My heart goes out to all you girls."

"It's appreciated," Raye said tersely. "But the point is, Darien's had it even worse, that's why he drinks, period."

Serena nodded grimly. "Yeah, I guess I never really...thought about it that way." She put her hand up to her chin in thought.

"Furthermore, he likes spending time with us, and it seems to me, especially you."

"Okay, sure, he's a friend now, obviously. And, because of my...whatever it is, he likes spending time with me to train. But what's he ever done to even imply that he wants more than a friendly relationship?" Serena asked.

Mina looked up at Serena. "Uh, paging Doctor Loggins?"

"Oh, that's just...banter," Serena said dismissively.

"Give me a break, Serena. Deep down, it's always been the case. Darien wants you in his danger zone." Mina looked back at her computer screen.

Raye pursed her lips. "Well...although..."

"What?" Serena looked at Raye.

"Well, remember when I was totally crushing on Darien back when we first met?" she asked.

"Yeah, what happened with that?" Serena leaned back on the couch.

"It wasn't going all that well, he kept ignoring me and blowing me off. Finally, he just told me he was into older women, so I decided to give up." Raye shrugged. "So..."

"He probably just said that to get you to go away," Mina suggested. "Remember, that was back when he was still a doucherocket."

"

**The Flamingo Room 11A, July 27th, 6:02 PM**

"Well, yeah, I said that to Raye, but only to get her to go away. She wasn't taking the hints of me ignoring her and blowing her off." Darien exited the bathroom, wearing only a thin bathrobe. "God, I was such a doucherocket."

"Yeah, we noticed," Lita said, laying down prone on the bed. "It's okay, we forgive you. So, what kind of women _are_ you into?"

"I don't know," Darien admitted. "I never really thought about it all that much."

"Nice robe, by the way," Lita said. "That yours?"

"Nope, these are complimentary from the hotel," he said, rubbing the lapel between his fingers. "There are more in the bathroom if you guys want to. Very thin and breathable, great for this weather."

"Oh, hell yeah," Lita said, rolling off the bed and going into the bathroom.

Darien looked over at Amy, sitting at the bedside desk, her specialized laptop open in front of her. The extremely suspicious and expensive piece piece of equipment would never have made it through the TSA, so she had managed to mail it ahead of them to the hotel.

"Amy, there's one in there for you too if you want," he said, pointing at the bathrobe. "I mean, you'd think these things would be bad for this kind of weather, but they're actually perfect."

"Thank you, but...I'll pass," Amy said, fingers a blur on the keyboard. "Okay, here's the moment of truth..."

A rough map of the surrounding area popped up on the computer screen, a large concentration of blinking lights coming from a large building not far from their position. Amy gave a low whistle.

"Confirmed. The Bellagio is a hotbed of negaverse activity, just ready for the facility to re-open." Amy nodded.

"Well, at least we didn't waste our time coming down here," Darien said, going over to the table by the other side of the bed and grabbing a small laminated booklet. "Alright, I'm ordering room service, and I'm feeling seafood, how about you?"

"Sounds good to me," Amy replied. Darien approached her as he flipped through the book.

"Well, I am all over this grilled halibut," Darien muttered. "And they've got crab cake sides, sounds delightful." He snatched the cordless phone off the top of the dresser. "Girls?"

"Let me see this real quick," Amy said, holding her hand out towards Darien. He handed her the menu and she quickly looked through it. "Well, lobster sounds lovely right now—"

"Oh yeah, I'm down for that," Lita said, emerging from the bathroom wearing her own bathrobe.

"They had a special going," Darien said, pointing at the menu. "Flip the page, if you do two orders of lobster you get two sides for free."

"Okay, let's do that..." Amy turned the page to look at the side orders. "Sides..."

Lita came to look over her shoulder. "Oooh, can we do the clams?"

"Hm, never actually had clams before, don't know if I like them..." Amy mused. "Okay, that'll be fun, can the other be...oh, they've got these jumbo shrimp...which is a blatant contradiction of terms, but also delicious."

"Sounds like an order to me," Darien said, lifting the phone up in front of his face. "Anything to drink?"

"Just lots of ice water," Lita said. Amy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, me too. Although, do you girls have a hairpin or something?" Darien asked.

"Do I want to know why?" Lita asked, shooting Darien a dry look.

"Well, they've got a mini-bar in the other room, and I learned how to pick locks back at the orphanage, so—"

"Darien, if you so much as lay a finger on that mini-bar, I'll give away your Cirque De Soleil ticket, don't test me!" Amy warned, glowering at Darien.

"I'm kidding!" Darien said, chuckling. "Come on, I wouldn't do that."

Amy pointed at Darien. "In fact, give me the phone, _I_ will place the order," she said sternly.

Darien handed the phone over with a grin, leaving Amy with the task of ordering.

"Seriously though, Darien, I know it's all pretty complicated, but you could do a lot to un-complicate things by just being up-front about how you feel with her. I've had a first-hand view of Serena's opinion of you for a long time, so I've seen this brewing for awhile."

"I don't know if that's...how I feel," Darien said slowly. "I mean, I do think she's awesome, but...I don't know."

"

**Headquarters, July 27th, 6:20 PM**

"I just don't know," Serena said. "Hey, I'm always glad to have more friends and more people that I get along with, of course. It's great that he's such a different guy now. But I don't know if it's a good fit."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raye asked, taking a small bite out of a small chocolate pastry.

"Well, it's just...think about it. Darien, I mean, obviously I've said a lot of negative things about him in the past, but forget all that. Being completely honest...he's a prince." Serena shoved the final bit of her chocolate pastry in her mouth. "I mean, not literally, obviously, but...you know what I mean."

"So what?" Mina still had her eyes glued to the computer screen.

"He's smart, good-looking, great body, funny—"

"Oh, he's funny now?" Raye asked, smirking.

"...yeah," Serena admitted. "Even his stupid jokes are starting to become amusing. I mean, he's going places in life. And he's...almost four years my senior, so I don't see how it fits. A guy like that is gonna end up with a...loaded...supermodel from France or something. And until that girl shows up, well, he's gonna go back to university in six weeks, armed with a more friendly and outgoing personality, and take home a new co-ed every day of the week. Would hate to deprive him of that. At the end of the day, a prince needs a princess, and I ain't that."

"Age is just a number," Mina insisted. "And you're all those things too."

"Smart?" Serena raised an eyebrow. "I don't know about that."

"In your own way, Serena," Luna insisted. "Maybe not in ways measured by the schooling system, and obviously you have your...moments, but you're very smart. I'm not just saying that, I really believe it."

"Well, thank you," Serena said, giving a small smile. "And hey, we'll see what happens, of course we'll be spending plenty of time together for work. But I don't know why he'd want to, so let's just talk about something else for now. Bottom line, a girl like me does not deserve a guy like Darien."

"

**The Flamingo Room 11A, July 27th, 6:50 PM**

"Bottom line, a guy like me does not deserve a girl like Serena," Darien insisted, putting one of the large shrimp in his mouth and biting it off at the tail.

"And what makes you think that?" Amy asked, using a small fork to fish a piece of edible lobster meat from the large shell on her plate.

"For one, I was a dick to her for like...nine months, which should immediately disqualify me from any of these sorts of conversations. There are probably a couple hundred guys at her school who always treated her the way she deserves, and if there's any justice in the world, she should be making a pick from that pool."

"It's Serena we're talking about here," Amy replied simply. "She forgave you, she believes you're genuine, so she's burying that hatchet deep underground. You don't even need to think about that stuff."

"Yeah, that's part of the second thing," Darien continued, picking up one of the crabcakes. "I don't know why she'd want to."

"Wait a second," Lita said, swallowing down a bit of clam meat. "You think the problem here is with _you_? Because if that's it, then back way up, because—"

"Listen," Darien interrupted. "The things Serena does, as herself and as Sailor Moon...she's amazing, and even forgetting me being an asshole, I just don't see it. She's sweet, cool, funny, and...I feel weird saying this stuff about anyone, but it's true, so there you go. I mean, what the hell am I that deserves that?"

"Oh come on," Lita chided, smacking him on the shoulder. "I'm not saying egotistical Darien was my favorite person ever or anything, but mild-mannered, self-loathing Darien is just pathetic."

"It's not self-loathing," Darien insisted. "But Serena...she's a princess. I mean, not literally, obviously, but...you know what I mean. Princess needs a prince, I'm not that."

"I'm not denying that Serena's awesome," Lita said. "I mean, is she ever. But you're not so shabby yourself. If you don't feel that way about her, then fine, but don't let self-doubt get in the way of you trying to make a move if you want to. Just...don't put the pussy on a pedestal!"

"Lita!" Amy snapped, glowering over at her larger friend.

"It's a figure of speech!" Lita insisted.

"A wildly inappropriate figure of speech given context," Amy said darkly. "However, that bit of foulness aside, I do agree that you might be surprised what happens with Serena if you let her know how you feel, if that is indeed how you feel."

"Well, thanks for the kind words, both of you." Darien looked over at Lita. "But let's just...change the subject for now, give me a chance to think about all this."

"Hm." Lita nodded. "Alright. I'm almost done with this lobster, and then I'm going into hibernation, so...oh! Amy, I wanted to ask you something. I was thinking about your briefing a couple weeks back, and it occurred to me that you don't have a personal expense account."

"Correct," Amy replied, putting another sliver of lobster into her mouth. "I saw no need for it, when I am effectively utilizing the primary operations account as my own."

"Yeah, but, nobody works harder than you at all this, you deserve to have a personal side account," Lita enthused, grabbing one of the giant shrimp. "You should make yourself one, get yourself some things."

"Not necessary," Amy said, shaking her head. "I'm quite content with how we're doing things right now."

"I know you're...trying to set a good example for the rest of us, and credit to you for it, Amy, but there must be _some _things you want to buy."

"

**Headquarters, July 27th, 7:01 PM**

"Yeah, come on Mina, just spit it out, what would you buy?" Serena asked, now sitting upside-down on the couch, head hanging off the edge of the seat and legs draped over the headrest.

"I just bought a computer, which I'm actually really enjoying right now, so I think I'll pass on thinking about such things for the time being," Mina said dismissively.

"Yeah, okay, you've got a computer, awesome," Serena replied. "But what else would you want? I mean, I know Raye's got that Lasik idea kicking around—"

"Eh, I've kind of...dropped that," Raye said uneasily. "I mean, it's stupid, it's pointless, and it's too much money, I don't think I could...pull it off. Maybe Amy could help me, but I don't want to put more stress on her right now, she's already working so hard, and I don't know if she'd be okay with it. That was just—"

"Raye." Serena suddenly spun around, back into a upright position. "It's not stupid. It's something you want for your grandfather, something to improve his quality of life, and you shouldn't feel pressured to abandon the idea because of...what society would think, or what Amy would think."

Raye shrugged, offering no response. "Of course I'd like it, but it's just...too much. Too many problems."

"Well, don't give up on it," Serena said comfortingly. "Anyway, Mina, come on. Let's not go crazy here...let's say, ten large, do whatever you want with it, what do you do?"

Mina paused for a second, leaning back against the back of the couch and looking up at the ceiling.

"Mina, I don't care how weird or shallow it is, I'm not here to judge your deepest desires."

Mina sighed. "Well...it's definitely weird." She glanced around. "There's one thing that...I've always kind of thought would be nice."

"Go on," Raye goaded.

"It's my mother," Mina said mournfully. "I'm not trying to say she's a great person or anything like that...honestly, I think I'm a big tax writeoff to her sometimes, and nothing makes that okay. But...I think I've made some mistakes that made things worse, and I've always kind of wanted to...see if maybe I could repair some of those things."

"What do you have in mind?" Serena asked.

"My mom collects...you know those little china dolls? They're not very big, porcelain...very detailed, especially the faces, very hard to make. Now, most of them, less than a hundred dollars, some of them a few hundred, but the ones made by the famous artists, the very limited ones, they go for...thousands. Well, most of the ones my mother has are, of course, the cheaper variety, but...she used to have one of the really expensive ones. Can't remember the name of the artist...Ada something, she's a pretty big deal. Anyway, she had a sixteen inch doll from her. Guess what happened to it when I was six."

"Well, it's...not a great thing to collect when you have a young child," Serena said slowly. "She could have...at least locked it up."

"Well, maybe, but she didn't see things that way," Mina groaned. "Not fun. Obviously it's been eight years, but I don't think she's ever gotten over it, and sometimes I...I just wonder if things could have been different if that never happened. Anyway, there's a shop at the mall that sells collectibles like that, and for the last...two years, they've had the exact same doll for sale. They only made...four hundred of them, funny how that works out. It hasn't sold, kind of a niche market. Five grand. So yeah, I've...thought about that before, maybe if I got that for her, it...it wouldn't make all the bad stuff go away, it wouldn't fix everything, but maybe it'd do something."

"That's...that's really understandable, Mina," Serena said, reaching over and resting her palm on her shoulder. "I get it. Maybe not...directly, but it's very natural for you to want a better relationship with your parents. And it's possible that your idea would help things. Even if your mom isn't the greatest person ever, she'll surely be able to recognize a gesture like that as you really wanting something better."

"Well, I can think about it if I really want to, but it's not happening, so what's the point? I mean, maybe I can afford it in theory, but I can't just roll into an antique shop with five grand without anyone asking questions. Maybe Amy could cook something up, but she probably wouldn't approve, and I don't want to ask more of her." Mina shrugged.

Serena sighed, then glanced down at the coffee table. Empty outside of a few magazines and comic books, Luna having scampered off into the early evening night. She glanced back and forth between Mina and Raye.

"Mina, Raye...look. Forget about Amy for a second, she's not here. She's thousands of miles away. What, Amy stops you girls from...daydreaming a little bit? Fantasizing? Thinking? If there are things in life that you want, you shouldn't let Amy snuff that out." Serena looked between the two. "You two...all of us...deserve to have lofty goals and dreams. Raye, you want your grandfather to have better eyesight. Mina, you want to try to patch the relationship with your mother a bit. And, I say...you deserve those things."

"Well, maybe, Serena. But Amy would say—" Raye started.

"Amy doesn't control us," Serena interrupted. "Listen. I love Amy. Of course I do, she's like a sister to me. You're all like sisters to me, and I'm sure we all love Amy. That's never gonna change. And she sees things...differently from the rest of us. And thank God she does, because so much of this stuff that we're doing would be impossible without her unique capabilities. But believe me. There are things about her different views that cause problems too. Someone like Amy just won't...understand some of the things at play here. She won't understand some of the things we'll want. And that's not fair to us."

"Like what?" Mina asked. "What could Amy possibly not understand?"

"All Amy wants is success. She wants to complete the mission, defeat the negaverse, that's it. She wants...success. And it's great that we have someone so focused on that, of course. And it's what I want too, but...I see something more than that. Something bigger. Greatness."

"Hey, I...I see where you're coming from," Raye admitted. "I'll give you that. But, given the circumstances, I really don't see how you can change anything. Especially with her control over most of the money—"

"I'm not just talking about the money," Serena said. "I'm talking about...vision. Amy's vision may have a laser-like focus, but it's so...small. There's so much more to this world than defeating the negaverse, and for girls like us...the things we can do...there should be more. There's a lot of evil out there that has nothing to do with the negaverse, and it would be unfair to the whole world if we ignored all that. I want the Sailor Scouts to be so much more than we are. Trust me, my vision is...radically different from Amy's vision. There's nothing wrong with that, Amy can have her own opinions, of course...but I have my own ideas for the future. And I stand by what I said that first night we got the money. We deserve to have good things."

Raye nodded slowly. "Well...after what you did last month, Serena, I'm not going to question or doubt you again. I meant what I said the day you came back. You're the leader here, and I believe in you. We go where you take us."

"Greatness," Mina repeated thoughtfully. "I like that."

"I'm not saying tomorrow, or next week, or next month...I mean, I don't know when, but there's going to come a day where Amy's gonna just have to step aside and accept that we want more than what she can offer." Serena shrugged. "That's no knock on her, that's no disrespect to her, but it is what it is. So, in the meantime, don't let her crush your desires. That's not fair to you."

"Okay." Mina nodded. "I...I agree with what you're saying, Serena. That all sounds good to me. And, as our leader, I'll follow you wherever you go." She looked down at her watch. "Okay, fifteen minute break over, time to keep combing through that wonderful little playlist." She plopped back down in front of her computer.

"My God, Mina, you are _already _an addict," Raye chided, shaking her head.

"I can't believe I ever actually paid for porn," Mina said, grinning as she tapped the mouse a couple times. "What kind of idiot would ever pay for porn in this day and age?"

"

**The Flamingo Room 11A, July 27th, 7:20 PM**

"Amy, I'm obviously kidding!" Darien said, holding the large silver remote in his right hand. "What kind of idiot would ever pay for porn in this day and age?"

Amy pointed at the remote. "Give that to me, I don't trust you."

Darien rolled his eyes, but tossed the remote onto the bed next to Amy. "Come on. Nobody orders porn on pay-per-view anymore, all you need is a wireless connection. That was a joke. Can you relax?"

Amy grabbed the remote, looking at Darien suspiciously. Finally, she uncurled and laid back on top of the light brown covers. "Okay...okay."

Lita emerged from the restroom. "So, what kind of porn do they got?"

Amy immediately swung her head over to look at her, frowning.

Lita pointed at her. "See, that was a joke too. Come on, Amy, get with the program."

"Well...they're not funny jokes," Amy said darkly. Nevertheless, she leaned back and closed her eyes. "Alright, well...I'm checking the bill when we check out, and if I find any suspicious pay-per-view orders, I'm freezing both of your personal expense accounts when we get back."

"Yeah, see, Amy, _that's_ an example of a not funny joke," Lita said, walking over to the bed and sitting down next to the prone Amy.

"I wasn't joking," Amy replied. "Alright, well...let's all get to sleep, get synced up with local time, and tomorrow we'll start figuring out how to approach this. Everyone be ready for some pretty intense recon." She closed her eyes, and then gave a small sigh. "I have to admit...this is rather nice."

"Yeah...it's not quite five star quality, but this hotel is solid," Lita admitted.

"Not that," Amy replied. "A few months ago, we probably couldn't have done something like this. I'd have to worry about Serena and Raye trying to kill each other, or Mina breaking something important, and probably couldn't have made this trip." She shrugged. "Now? I really feel like I can trust them. They've come so far, really reduces the pressure on me. Especially Serena. She's just come so far recently, as a scout and a leader. I really do believe that she can handle watching things while I'm gone for a week...never thought I'd say that. I...I really, really trust her. It's a good feeling."

Darien opened the door to the left of the furthest bed. "Alright. Good night, ladies. Remember, block the door." He disappeared into the other room, shutting the door behind him.

"Night," Lita said, quickly skipping over to the other bed. Amy wormed underneath the covers as Lita grabbed a chair and shoved it up underneath the doorknob, then shut the lights off.

"Good night," Amy replied.

"

AN: Making this chapter flow just the way I wanted while still hitting all the key beats took awhile to craft, but I think I got it pretty well.

Next chapter...later this week.


	24. A Little More Action

Chapter 24: A Little More Action

"

AN: I've recently been forced into using a different word processor, so hopefully none of my formatting is changed, but if it does happen that's why. This chapter took a little longer than I'm used to due to a couple of things popping up.

"

**Las Vegas Boulevard, July 28th, 2:02 PM**

The three stood on the opposite side of the street, on the sidewalk, looking up at the massive, towering structure that made up the hottest ticket in all the city. It had been barricaded off at all the entrances, security guards and yellow tape keeping anyone from getting all that close to it, all the tourists and civilians simply walking past the dormant palace with little more than a glance.

"Alright, let's keep moving around this place, see if we can find any obvious openings," Amy said.

"Yeah, the negaverse really could draw a limitless amount of energy out of a place like this," Lita mused, looking at the facility. "This thing is massive."

Darien quickly pointed his finger at Lita. "Said your mom, boom."

"Dammit, _every_ time," Lita groaned.

"So. Easy." Darien grinned.

The three started moving down the sidewalk, through the crowd, one eye on what was in front of them, and another on the giant palace to their left.

"They've got it pretty well secured," Darien said quietly. "I don't think there's a great chance of us getting in via the usual entrances."

"They're playing it very safe," Amy agreed. "I don't think an above-ground infiltration will work. Remember, these are all just regular humans doing their jobs, so we can't kill them, and the more injuries we can avoid the better. Nevertheless, let's keep trying to see if we can find a simple solution, we have time."

The three started crossing the street along with a herd of other assorted people.

"Pretty intoxicating, really," Lita muttered. "I mean, The Bellagio's the very center of it all. This city can really just...suck you in. Really appealing. Look at all of this."

Amy snorted. "Please. Modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. Nothing of value here but a couple of respectable shows and some architectural work."

"Climb on down from Mount Pious, girl," Darien said quietly. "This city is a monument to human ingenuity, pay it some respect."

"More like human excess," Amy replied curtly. "Sorry, I just don't see it."

"Must be hard to see anything from up on that high horse," Lita said.

"You know, Amy, you could probably make a killing at some of these table games," Darien commented. "You'd get kicked out of half the casinos on this strip in a week."

"Well, we'll never know, because that's not happening!" Amy insisted. "Also, movie-borne myth, the advantage gained by applying math to casino games is tiny and insignificant."

"Really?" Lita questioned. "Bummer."

"The only way to beat a casino is to stay far away from it," Amy continued. "Which is why that, hopefully, this trip will be the first and last time I will be in one."

The gang continued to look at the perimeter of the facility.

"Well, we still have to check out the east side, but I'm getting the sense that there's not going to be a point of ingress through the typical methods. Meaning..."

"

**Headquarters, July 28th, 10:30 PM**

"...the sewers?" Serena repeated, leaning in towards the small cellular phone. "Well, I don't envy you."

"Should be pretty easy," Darien said over the connection. "No guards down there, should be able to climb right up. Once inside, however..."

"I've known for weeks that the facility would be crawling with security," Amy said. "I've planned for it. We'll just have to be careful."

"Take some deodorant," Raye said from behind Serena's shoulder. "Last thing we need is you guys getting found because of sewer smell. Man, you fly all the way across the globe to see one of the greatest cities in the world, and you end up spending time in the sewers."

"Oh, don't worry about it too much," Amy said. "This whole city's a figurative sewer anyway."

"If it makes you girls feel any better, Amy is doing her best to make this trip as un-fun as possible," Lita said, laughing lightly. "I think it's her way of making you three not feel so left out."

"Well, that's our Amy," Mina said quietly.

"Anyways, don't let the sewage water get you down too much." Raye put her hands down on the edge of the desk. "Good luck. Getting pretty late over here, we're about to head home. All quiet so far."

"Just keep an eye on your phones," Amy asked. "If Malachite was planning to separate us and then attack us at the best possible moment, then it would come while we're infiltrating The Bellagio. Don't be surprised if you see radar activity in the next few hours."

"I'll be here to key an eye out," Luna said, jumping up onto the edge of the desk. "We'll be fine. Oh, and is Artemis there?"

"Yes, and I'm fine," Artemis said. "It's pretty crazy down here, been spending a lot of time swimming around in those giant fountains they have everywhere. So many kids running around everywhere, they love me."

"Don't get caught," Luna warned. "The last thing we need is something like that complicating the mission."

"I'm not getting caught," Artemis said. "Alright, peace."

Serena terminated the connection. "Alright. Luna, you're on radar, I'll keep my phone close by. Time to get on home."

"

**Bellagio Sewer System, July 29th, 1:13 AM**

"Mercury, it's times like these when you have no idea how lucky you are that you're a brain."

Darien and Lita, transformed into their super alter egos, were carefully walking along the moss-covered maintenance sidewalk that ran alongside the stream of filthy water that was pumping out of the massive facility overhead. Right now, it wasn't much more than a trickle, with the place closed, but under normal circumstances it would be a small river and would have made this experience a hundred times more unpleasant. The two had entered the large concrete pipe a half-mile away at the point where all the filth was dispelled into a small underground river that ran into a large lake outside the city after passing through a filtering system, and had been enjoying the sights and smells for a few minutes already. Amy, needing to coordinate, had been lucky enough to stay behind at the hotel with Artemis.

"If either of you can make an argument why we'd benefit tactically from me joining you two down there, then I'm all ears," Amy buzzed through the radio.

"Yeah, yeah," Darien muttered, looking upwards at a metal ladder that went up into a small opening in the ceiling, leading up to a maintenance hatch. "Can we please just take this one and get out of here?"

"Darien, stick to the plan," Amy insisted. "I'm sorry, I know it's not desirable, but I need to be in control of as much as possible, and I want you two to give yourselves the best chance of getting in there without anyone seeing you. Remember Mask, this is a sneaking mission."

"Ugh." Darien shook his head.

Lita had a small jar in her right hand, filled with a green paste. Both her and Darien already had large amounts of the concoction right above their upper lips, and Lita was trying to spread on more.

"We paid twelve dollars for this stuff and it doesn't do a thing," Lita moaned, scooping up a large amount with her index finger and sticking it underneath her nose, making her look quite ridiculous in the process. "Okay, that...that masks it a bit, actually...although now I can barely breathe period."

"Worth it," Darien said, snatching the jar and applying a massive amount underneath his nose. "Yeah, okay...okay, I think I'll live now."

The two hurried down the path as much as they could, every step onto damp moss carrying danger of slippage.

"Take a right up ahead, you're not too far away," Amy announced. "I've been slowly combing through individual floors of the building with the radar, by the way. Most of the floors contain a couple of generic, un-interesting negaverse signatures, but floor thirty-two may be of particular interest."

"Keep talking," Lita asked, the two taking a right and darting past another metal ladder.

"There's just one signature up there that I'm detecting. And I think it might be Malachite."

"Not surprised," Darien said.

"It's extremely massive, and...and Mask, don't say it!" Amy ordered.

"I wasn't going to," Darien insisted.

"Yes you were!" Amy countered.

"Okay, I...totally was," Darien admitted.

Amy sighed. "Well, this signature is bigger than Zoicite's, so I can only assume it's him. I'm not going to ask either of you to try to face him directly given all of the monsters he brought with him, that's a difficult proposition even if all six of us were together. However, if you two can sneak up on him, maybe we can get lucky. Either way, I can only assume the energy he's absorbing from people is all being absorbed into a pendant that he's keeping on his person, so confronting him is required for multiple reasons. So, one more time. Primary objective, cut off the connection between the negaverse energy pendant and the Bellagio. Secondary objective, engage and eliminate Malachite. Secondary objective, obtain negaverse pendant for Sailor Scout purposes."

"Roger," Darien responded. "Please tell me we're almost there."

"Yes, actually," Amy said. "Should be a hatch in about ten feet."

The two of them slowed to a halt in front of a metal ladder, leading upwards to a square metal cover.

"Remember, do not move the cover until after I'm sure the room is clear," she instructed.

Darien took a step to the side. "Ladies first," he said, beckoning over at the ladder.

Lita reached forward with her right hand to grab a rung, but then paused, letting the ladder go. She looked down at her uniform's skirt, then looked up to glower at Darien.

"Nice try," she grunted, picking her right hand up by her side and extending her middle finger upwards.

"Yeah," Darien said, giving an impish grin as he grabbed onto the ladder and quickly ascended.

"If you're aiming to make her jealous, that works better when she's not a few thousand miles away," Lita chided, climbing up behind him.

"Nah, I'm just messing around," Darien said, stopping right below the hatch and pulling a small black device from his belt. "The moment this hatch opens, won't be time for much of that." After the electronic tool attached itself to the cover, he dropped his hand and quickly wiped his upper lip off with his index finger, then wiped his finger off on the wall. The device gave a soft beep. "Although, speaking of that, Jupiter. I had an idea last night...y'know, about...Moon. Gonna drop something on her when we get back next week, see what happens."

"Good for you," Lita said, wiping her upper lip off as well. "I won't pry further, but...good luck."

"Alright, the thermal scan is done, there's nobody in the bathroom right now, and the hall right outside is also vacant," Amy reported.

With that, Darien clipped the small tool back on his belt, then reached his hand up and slowly lifted the hatch. The other side was covered in tile identical to the rest of the restroom floor, and the hatch was essentially invisible to anyone looking at it from the other side. Carefully, Darien pushed it to the side, then slid up onto the floor. Lita followed him a second later.

"Alright. We are in," Darien whispered. Lita put the hatch back into place.

"Leave the restroom, take a right, stairwell door should be about ten feet down the hall. Get me a thermal scan at the door, we won't be able to get the whole hall, but a good piece of it."

Darien got up and went over to the door, planting the square device on the center of it. Another scan started. Lita pulled out a small spray can and quickly covered herself and Darien in a scent-suppressing cloud.

"Might be easier than we thought," Lita said quietly. "We get to the stairwell, get up to floor thirty-two, bing bang boom, mission accomplished."

"There will be some security presence in the stairwell," Amy reminded her. "And remember, neither of you are to engage any of the security guards, I will let you know if you get close to a negaverse foe. Also, remember to avoid any serious collateral."

"What, Mercury? You don't want us to bring down this den of iniquity?" Darien asked.

"My disapproval of the facility aside, Mask, it is a multi-billion dollar structure and business. Moral dissonance is not a good enough reason to destroy something that valuable." Amy cleared her throat. "Although, a broken roulette table or slot machine would fall well within the range of acceptability. Okay, scan is clear. Now, there is a camera right outside, so do exactly as I say, when I say it."

"Ready and willing," Darien replied.

"When I say go, both of you need to quickly dash for the opposite wall and press up against it, then shuffle to your left about four feet. Then, when I say go again, both of you need to make for the stairwell door. Be quiet about it. Go."

Darien quickly pushed the door open and darted to the opposite wall, pressing his back up to it before scuttling to the left, positioning himself right underneath the camera. Lita was much slower, but still possessing speed far beyond anything a human could possibly have, had no problem getting underneath the slowly rotating camera.

They stood there for about three seconds, glancing about, hoping nobody would suddenly pop up on either end of the hall.

"Go."

With that, Darien sped to the gray door across from him, carefully pushing it open so he could slide through. Lita followed, Darien pushing the door shut behind her, leaving them both in a cold, concrete stairwell, nothing of interest outside of the stairs.

"Hm." Darien nodded. "It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battlefield."

Lita looked at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, uh...nothing," Darien said quickly. "Let's go."

"

**The Flamingo Room 11A, July 29th, 1:24 AM**

"Thermal shows a security guard in the stairwell, but I can't pinpoint an exact location, please point the scanner upwards and give me a moment to try to pinpoint a floor," Amy said through the speaker, eyes glued to the screen in front of her.

"You holding up okay?" Artemis asked, seated on the desk next to her, lapping at an ice cream sundae in front of him.

"Yes, I got a lot of sleep last night, I feel fine," Amy said quickly.

"You can have some of this sundae if you want," Artemis offered, his long nimble tongue taking a dollop of the cream along with some sprinkles and whipped cream.

"That's...very kind, but you already licked it," Amy said.

"So?" Artemis turned to look at Amy.

"...Artemis, it's okay, I don't want any," Amy insisted, tapping some input into the keyboard.

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Racist."

"Alright, I have you guys on the twenty-third floor, and that thermal scan indicates someone...three floors up and coming down, please be advised." Amy leaned back in the chair. "We're almost there."

She moved her right hand over to her cell phone, laying there next to the computer, quickly tapping the screen a few times. After a couple rings, her call was connected.

"Mercury, go ahead," Luna said quietly.

"Malachite will be alerted to our presence, one way or another, in the next five minutes," Amy reported. "If his plan is to spring an attack back home as soon as he has definite confirmation we've got at least some scouts in Vegas, then things may start popping up. I'm going to keep the line open."

"Sounds good to me," Luna said.

"The security guard went down two floors and then re-entered the main building," Darien announced in a hushed tone. "We're proceeding."

"Copy," Amy responded.

"

**Bellagio Stairwell Floor 32, July 29****th****, 1:30 AM**

"There's a luxury suite at the end of the hallway, Malachite's in there," Amy said. "Curious, no other negaverse agents on this floor, although there are a dozen close enough to be there within seconds if he calls them. Expect him to be ready for you, hope he's not."

Darien removed the small black device from the door. "Human presence?"

"None," Amy reported. "As expected, all things considered."

Darien opened the door carefully, peeking down the hall to his left. Nothing but a cascade of doors on either side, a multi-colored Persian style carpet giving the hall a royal feeling.

"Okay. Jupiter, you go in through the front door," Darien said quietly. "I'll go into the room next to the suite, use the fire escape, and enter through the window so he has two things to think about. Mercury, coordinate the entry."

"Got it."

Darien and Lita ran down the hall, footsteps muffled by the expensive carpet. In short order, they were at the end of the hall, and Darien was examining the door to the immediate right of the suite. It was large and looked quite heavy, with a card key lock.

He pulled out his cane and twisted the shaft, revealing his sharp, thin sword. Carefully, he jammed the tip into the gap between the door and the frame, forcing the mechanism back.

"Just like old times," Darien muttered. "Dear old Director Murphy thought a five-pin lock could keep me out of the orphanage gym room after hours. Joke's on him."

"Well, your delinquency certainly paid off," Lita whispered, eyes on his large forearms.

The door quietly popped open, and Darien hustled across to the window, slipping the cover back onto the end of his cane. Hotel customers were not meant to open windows for a myriad of reasons, and only an active fire alarm would undo the lock. But of course, Darien was not a normal person. With minimal noise, he reached up and yanked the electronic lock clean off the wood. The window slid open easily, and Darien stepped out into the cold night air.

Nimbly, he jumped from one small manmade ledge to another, then pressed his back up to the wall right next to the window of the suite.

"Entrance in three, two, one," Amy intoned.

With that, Darien spun around, throwing his body through the window, the abrupt shattering sound of the window breaking announcing his appearance. Just as he broke through, the door across the room from him flew off its hinges, Lita having booted it with her heel.

Darien saw it just a split-second before it fired. A giant rifle, sitting on a chair, pointed directly at the entrance to the room, the trigger rigged to the door. As the weapon discharged, his first thought revolved around how strange a trap it was. A large rifle? True, if the weapon was powerful enough, it could certainly serve to hurt a Sailor Scout, but it seemed strange that the negaverse would be forced into using something so mundane and weak.

The projectile hit Lita right in the stomach, but did not pass through her or bounce off. Rather, the object, which was a small metal rectangle, suddenly sprouted a half dozen little legs, which extended and wrapped themselves around her torso. She froze, confused.

And then, with a dull flash, Lita was back in civilian form, wearing green shorts and a white tank top. Her mouth fell open slightly as she looked down at herself.

Malachite burst in from the second room of the suite, immediately throwing a glowing projectile at de-powered Lita. Reflexively, Darien hurled his cane at Malachite's attack, knocking it into the wall harmlessly. He threw himself into Malachite with all of his strength, knocking him back into the other room, buying just a second of time.

Lita reached down to try to yank the offending device off her stomach, but it was firmly latched on, and she possessed neither the strength or abilities to change that. Rather than chase Malachite into the other room, Darien summoned his cane back to his hand and darted over to Lita, striking the unwelcome leech with the head of his weapon. The device buckled underneath his super strength, breaking away from the legs, which fell limp to the floor as soon as detached. Quickly, Lita was back in Sailor Jupiter form.

"Thanks!" Lita said, immediately turning to the suite's other room. Darien held his hand out in front of her.

"Could be another trap," Darien whispered.

"Mask, Jupiter, status update?" Amy asked. "I lost video feed from Jupiter for a few seconds, Mask's video feed indicates Malachite used some sort of device to de-power Jupiter, confirm?"

"Confirm," Lita answered. The two of them stood there, eyes on the doorway between the two main rooms of the suite. Darien quickly looked around the room, checking for another similar device that might be poised to spring.

"Be advised, negaverse agents in the facility are all moving to converge on your position, any second now!" Amy announced. "I'm on my way, E.T.A. three minutes, Artemis is taking the computer!"

"

**The Flamingo Room 11A, July 29th, 1:33 AM**

Amy jumped to her feet, pointing at Artemis. "Do the best you can, and try to keep it down, the last thing we need is the staff poking around in here."

Artemis nodded.

"Ah, Mercury?" Luna buzzed in through the phone. "Six negaverse portals just opened up over here."

"Alert the team," Amy said quickly, throwing on her jacket.

"Six portals...curiously close to certain...residences, Mercury. If you get my drift."

Amy froze mid-step, a clammy sensation grabbing her stomach. Of course, she had been concerned that the negaverse might have learned where they lived while they were monitoring their positions a few weeks ago, that was certainly a possibility, but she had also been hoping that they had not bothered with that information, or disregarded it, or that it died with Zoicite.

So much for that.

She shook it off, fighting back the building fear. "Understood, Luna. Inform them. And warn them about these new devices as well."

"

**Bellagio Luxury Suite 32, July 29****th****, 1:34 AM**

Darien looked at Lita, then pointed at the wall ten feet to the right of the door, then at the floor at Lita's feet, then over to an electrical socket in the wall. Lita nodded, and Darien silently went over to the wall.

Lita stayed put, watching Darien get up against the wood and plaster. He threw himself through the wall, easily penetrating through, looking up to see Malachite standing in the left near corner, holding a device that looked identical to the one that had zapped Lita a moment before. He had clearly been waiting to throw it at whoever came through the door, but was quick to improvise on that plan and advanced on Darien.

Lita shot a concentrated bolt of electricity at the socket, pumping a lethal amount of volts into the system, causing all the lights on the floor to pop, and plunging everything into darkness. Darien used the darkness to dash across the room, lifting the mattress up from the bed and using it as a makeshift shield.

Negaverse creatures started trying to pile in through the front door of the room, quite the foolish decision, as it became a simple matter for Lita to start shooting a massive wave of lightning in that direction. After a few seconds of this, the monsters began taking alternative paths, bursting in through the walls, floor, and ceiling. Lita spun around, hands up in a combat stance, the darkness of the room illuminated only by the crackling static dancing in the air around her.

Darien threw the mattress in the direction of Malachite, also making sure to throw a couple blankets into the air to further disorient his foe. He kept his distance, aware of the object in Malachite's hand that could render him powerless. He brandished his cane just as a part of the ceiling fell in, admitting a pair of bipedal monsters with four bladed arms each. He gracefully stepped over towards them, revealing the blade hidden within his cane, taking up a fencing stance.

And then, he felt his foot encounter just a couple ounces of resistance. Just barely noticeable, he would have usually written it off as a blanket left on the floor or something similar.

Unfortunately, this bit of resistance was quickly followed by a little fwip noise, and then something latched onto his arm, and then he was wearing a white t-shirt and tan cargo shorts. A wire-trip trap.

He looked up at the two large negaverse creatures, giving a terrified little smile for just the briefest of moments before sprinting for the hole in the wall he had created.

"Jupiter!" he called out frantically, just as Malachite darted in front of him, blocking his way out of the room. Darien stood there, stuck between two unwinnable fights that was about to become one exceedingly unwinnable fight.

With a small smile, Malachite generated a small energy blade in his hands. One that would prove to be devastatingly effective against the de-powered Darien, probably immediately fatal.

Malachite pulled his right arm back, ready to hurl the weapon at Darien. "Only human."

Just as Darien was about to try a hopeless dodge, a narrow jolt of electricity jumped from the other room, through the doorway, and struck the offending object on Darien's arm. The object immediately sparked, and Darien took his Tuxedo Mask form just in time to dance out of the way of the blade.

Malachite spun around just in time to see Lita dash back into the main room, still fighting off about a dozen different negaverse monsters. Darien took the opportunity to flash in and crack Malachite right in the small of his back. He then picked him up and spun around, hurling the last of the Negaverse generals right into the two advancing quad-armed enemies. He turned back to the main room to see Lita, moving around the room and engaging the various foes, quite a few of which were squaring up to try to throw their own small devices at Lita.

"

**Tsukino Residence, July 29th, 1:36 AM**

"So what's the plan?"

Serena was crouched down on the roof of her house, right above her room, watching a large negaverse portal down the street allowing perhaps twenty negaverse monsters to pop out on the sidewalk. They were all bipedal and roughly humanoid, though they all had definite differences in color, size, and physical makeup.

"Moon, once you're done there, move to Mercury's apartment to defend!" Luna called out. "Mars, when you're done with the temple, go protect Jupiter's apartment! Venus, take care of things there and go to Mask's apartment! Tentative plan, subject to change based on what happens, now go!"

Serena leapt from the roof, eager to make sure she could stop the negaverse squad before they could get close to her house.

"And do not let them attach one of those objects to you!" Luna said. "If that happens, there won't be much we can do right now!"

Serena dashed down the street, largely vacated, illuminated by a handful of street poles from high above. She was there in less than a second, newfound abilities starting to become second nature to her.

Sure enough, quite a few of the negaverse enemies were holding onto small metal-looking objects. Serena ran full-bore into the nearest monster, the force of her impact sending it crashing into two of its comrades.

The squad all turned to Serena, some of them brandishing their new toys. If any of those managed to latch onto Serena, then the game was essentially over.

Fortunately, Serena was ready for the challenge, and zipped away from the twenty beasts, a blur of speed that none of them could hope to keep up with. They were barely able to see where she went.

After getting back in front of her house, she planted her foot in the ground and went back towards the foes, zig-zagging unpredictably, making it impossible for any projectile to be confidently launched. It took only a couple seconds for her to again body-slam one of the monsters that wasn't armed with a special device into one of the ones that was, and then quickly dash away. As she repeated this process, moving in every direction with absurd speed, the negaverse foes began to realize that, in this instance, twenty-on-one wasn't at all fair for them.

"

**Bellagio Floor 32, July 29****th****, 1:37 AM**

Darien and Lita burst through the wall, running into the room that Darien had used to infiltrate the suite, both of them splitting to the sides to dodge one of the hurled devices. Darien spun around, cane out, spinning the weapon around in his fingers to knock another thrown device away from him.

"Jupiter, these new toys seem quite susceptible to your particular abilities." Darien looked over at her.

Suddenly, the window to the room shattered, Amy spinning in, surrounded by a bubble of water. She had borrowed several gallons of liquid from the fountain down below and used it to propel herself up onto the fire escape. She immediately sent the water she brought with her snaking into the suite, Lita charging the stream with electricity to give it a kick. The joint attack was not just quite powerful, but also an ideal way to fry the new negaverse devices before they could be utilized. Amy sent the stream flying out through the hallway, systematically working through the floor.

"We've still got several dozen powerful negaverse signatures coming up from the lower floors," Artemis said. "Far from in the clear!"

Malachite came into the room, holding a zapping device in either hand. He was about to chuck them at Lita and Darien when Amy brought a flood of water through the front door of the room, slamming it into the tall and imposing general. Lita fired off bolts of electricity as the liquid cascaded down around him.

When the jet of water had passed over him, he was little more than annoyed, but both of the devices he was holding were sparking, rendered useless. Several more sparks were dancing around within his uniform, indicating his entire arsenal of the tools had been shorted.

"Prototypes?" Darien mocked. "And I was told you'd be a worthy adversary."

Malachite threw both of the useless objects to the ground as a couple of short, stocky monsters burst in. Darien pointed towards them, Lita and Amy immediately moving to intercept, Lita throwing up a barrier of electricity that would prevent any of the thrown devices from getting to them.

Darien squared up on Malachite, just as he formed a small energy blade in his fingers. He threw the blade at Darien's head, Darien smoothly dodging it as he sidestepped. He dashed in towards Malachite, grateful for the opportunity to engage him in close quarters, and gave him a right hook in the cheek to push him back into the luxury suite.

"Running out of funding back in the negaverse?" Darien asked, holding his arms up in front of his face as he advanced on Malachite. Malachite shook off the blow, picked his own hands up, and launched a quick jab to Darien's face. Darien jerked back to dodge it, then used his momentum as he leaned back in to drive his fist into Malachite's chest.

"Ah." Malachite stepped back a bit. "And there we find our boxing champion." Malachite used his elbow to block Darien's body shot, then gave give a quick cross to the ribs. "Oh, my apologies, you came in second…_Darien._"

"You know my name now?" Darien reached up to his face and whipped his mask off, discarding it to the side. "Well, good for you. Want me to teach you how to spell it?"

"

**Cherry Hill Temple, July 29****th****, 1:40 AM**

Snaking flames encircled Raye, then spun outwards from her body, providing her with protection and also attacking the negaverse foes that surrounded her. The lancing whips of flame struck the various enemies that tried to close in on her, and she spun out into the street, trying to lure the attackers away from the temple.

One ran in through the fire to lunge at her, forcing her to fall back on her martial arts training. She neatly dodged the leaping attack, grabbed the monster as it flew past her, and hurled it into the ground. She grabbed it as it bounced back into her hands, threw it at one of the others, and then brought a blazing orb of fire down from up above on top of them both. She then encircled herself in a shield of flame.

"Raye, you're most of the way through," Luna announced. "Still got...half a dozen blips around the temple."

"Copy," Raye responded. The flame shield disappeared, and she threw a spear of fire into the chest of a centaur-looking negaverse stooge.

And then, she felt a small weight latch itself onto her thigh, and her powers left her.

Terrified, she looked down at her white and red pajamas, then looked around. She was surrounded. One of the negaverse monsters had used the few seconds Raye had shielded herself to conceal itself behind a nearby tree, get her to lose track of it, and then launch one of the objects when she had her back turned. Cursing her lack of focus, aware that it might be the last mistake she ever made, she desperately tried to detach the mechanical leech.

The monsters moved in on her with impunity as she made fruitless attempts to pull the device off her thigh. Her mind started to turn to her friends and family, thinking this might be it.

And then, a glowing tiara spun like a boomerang, striking the half-dozen attackers back, systematically driving them away from Raye. Raye then felt a strong gust of wind blow by her, and the device on her thigh was whisked away, and she could just barely make out Serena whirling around, blasting the creatures into oblivion with her fists and tiara working in unison.

She was so surprised, she didn't transform back into Sailor Mars until after Serena had handled the fight.

"You okay?" Serena asked, turning to look at Raye as the final monster disappeared into nothing.

"Y-yeah," Raye said, nodding. "I thought you were supposed to protect Amy's house—"

"I already took care of Amy's house," Serena said quickly. "Can you still fight?"

Raye nodded.

"I'm going to assist Mina, Lita's place is all yours." With that, Serena sped off into the distance, moving at impossible speeds.

Raye stared after Serena for a couple seconds, then gave her head a little shake and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Stupid uncontrollable lesbian urges," she muttered, taking off in the opposite direction.

"

**Bellagio Floor 32, July 29****th****, 1:42 AM**

Darien bounced the left hook Malachite directed at his cheek back where it came from with his forearm, stepping back to let the right haymaker strike nothing but air. Malachite created an energy blade in his left hand as he brought it back to bear in front of him, brandishing it.

Darien hung back, waiting for Malachite to strike. Malachite slashed through the air across his body, Darien leaping back to avoid the sharp weapon, then ducking in to grab Malachite's left wrist. With the weapon temporarily out of the way, he spun and drove his elbow into Malachite's stomach. Malachite dropped his blade, and Darien quickly kicked it across the room, then spun away from Malachite before he could counter.

"It's important for you to know, Darien, that as we speak, your place of residence is being ripped to shreds by my servants!" Malachite taunted, moving in towards Darien with his fists up. Darien backed away, moving sideways to avoid being trapped in a corner. Malachite flashed in and managed to get a hook into Darien's ribs, but Darien surprised him by dropping to his back, lashing his foot out at Malachite's right leg, and knocking the general off balance. Malachite fell clumsily to the ground, Darien driving both of his knees right into his chin as he fell, and then quickly kicking him back before jumping back to his feet.

Malachite shook it off, rolled out of the way just before Darien brought his right heel down onto his head, and jumped to his feet.

"I'm afraid those you live with, your loved ones, simply won't stand a chance!" Malachite continued, as the two danced around, sizing each other up. "Pity you won't be able to attend the funerals!"

"Joke's on you," Darien spat back, grinning. "Because I live alone, and I don't _have_ any loved ones!"

Malachite paused for a moment, popping up slightly from his combat pose, raising an eyebrow at Darien. Darien stood up as well, frowning as he realized what he had just said.

"Did...did that retort sound better in your head?" Malachite asked.

Darien looked around the room for a second. "...shit. Whatever!"

Malachite flew in, snapping his fist forward in a wild uppercut. At that moment, Lita flew into the room through the wall, holding a large blob-like negaverse creature in her hands. She hurled it at the window, the monster just barely squeezing out of the broken portal and plummeting down thirty-two floors onto hard concrete.

Unfortunately, that disturbance distracted Darien just enough for Malachite's uppercut to land. Darien dazed from taking the full brunt of the blow, Malachite was able to start pushing Darien back towards the fire escape with a series of rapid blows.

"

**Aino Residence, July 29th, 1:44 AM**

Mina brought her chain down into the asphalt of the street, the end of it attached to an unwilling passenger. After the monster's mass had left a nice crater in the street, Serena finished it up by throwing her tiara at it.

"Appreciate the assist," Mina said as she retracted her chain back around her waist.

"Not a problem." Serena said. "Luna, how's Mars?"

"Fine," Luna responded. "She's almost done. But there's still Mask's apartment."

"You go on ahead," Mina said. "I'll catch up."

Serena nodded and was about to take off, when she suddenly felt a strange bubbling sensation in her stomach. She froze, looking down at herself.

"Uh...Moon, are you okay?" Mina asked.

_Pop!_

Suddenly, Serena had disappeared. Not in any particular direction, but was quite simply gone. Mina stared at the spot she had been for a second, blinking furiously, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, forgetting her orders for a moment.

"

**Bellagio Floor 32, July 29****th****, 1:45 AM**

Darien nearly tumbled over the railing of the fire escape, Malachite's body shot very nearly pushing him over. He tried to move his arms to defend from the next shot, but Malachite was going on the offensive and had the upper hand. Darien looked behind Malachite, hoping that help might be coming, but Lita was dealing with a pair of negaverse monsters, each quite large and each holding one of the zapping devices that posed such a potential threat. She would need only a couple seconds to render them a non-threat, but that couple seconds was all Malachite needed at this point.

Malachite reached forward and grabbed the front of Darien's shirt, taking Darien by surprise, who had been expecting another blow. Neatly, Malachite flipped him backwards, over the railing, sending Darien tumbling after the negaverse monster that had taken the same shortcut just seconds before. Darien reached out frantically, trying to reach the fire escape railing with his hands, but he was at least a foot too far away.

And then, his momentum was changed, his hand getting grabbed. He swung downwards, using his legs to cushion his collision into the fire escape. He hung there limply for just a split second, quite confused, before looking up at who had grabbed him.

It was Serena, standing on the fire escape of the thirty-first floor.

She looked just as surprised as he was.

And then, she immediately, reflexively flipped him back up onto the fire escape of the thirty-second floor, Malachite watching in complete shock. Darien shook off his own surprise, pulled out his cane, and smacked Malachite full in the face as he got up to grab onto the railing. Malachite was knocked back, and Darien quickly climbed back onto the grate. Lita took up the assault as Malachite stumbled back into the room, grabbing his back and hurling him into the opposite wall with full force.

Darien quickly glanced down at the fire escape level beneath his feet. Nothing. The window wasn't even open, so how anyone could have gotten there wasn't entirely clear.

"What the—"

"

**Aino Residence, July 29th, 1:45 AM**

"—hell?"

Serena looked around, Mina staring at her.

"Moon, you okay?" Mina asked.

Serena didn't respond. She wasn't sure.

"Moon, what happened?" Luna buzzed in. "I lost your audio and video for about five seconds there, I thought you'd been zapped."

"Uh...nothing, I guess," Serena muttered. "Uh...glitch in the matrix." She gave her head a quick shake. "Mask's apartment, I'm on my way!" She turned around and jetted off.

Mina stood there for a moment, lips pursed in thought. And then, she refocused on the mission and followed after Serena.

"

**Bellagio Floor 32, July 29****th****, 1:46 AM**

Malachite looked around. Darien was advancing on him from the front, fists up. Lita was coming in at the side, either hand holding a small crackling ball of electricity. Amy was behind him, standing in the entrance to the room, ready to support Lita's electricity attack with her own elemental powers.

Malachite grimaced, then quickly stomped his foot down into the floor. He opened up a large divot down to the below floor, dropping downwards. Darien quickly ran forward and looked down just in time to see Malachite disappear through a negaverse portal.

"Alright," Darien said, nodding as the portal quickly closed. "Malachite's retreated."

Amy quickly ran over to the bathroom of the suite, throwing the door open. "It must be around here somewhere..." She threw the shower curtain open, finding a square crystal with a small divot in the side.

"What do we have here?" Darien asked as Amy picked it up and brought it back out into the main room.

"This crystal acts as a gathering point for the energy this facility is absorbing," Amy explained. "Unsurprisingly, Malachite didn't bother leaving the pendant in while he wasn't absorbing energy, but if we destroy this crystal it'll undo their work on the building." Amy tossed the device to Darien. He tossed it up into the air, pulled out his cane, withdrew the sword from within it, and sliced it neatly in two.

"Primary objective, complete," Darien said as the two pieces fell to the ground. "Secondary objectives, incomplete."

"Not surprising," Amy said. "We did what we needed. Artemis, is the building clear?"

"Confirm," Artemis said. "The stragglers were just teleported out, we're good."

Amy ran out of the room quickly.

"Luna just informed me that the attack back home was successfully beat back, with only minor damage done," Artemis added. "Mission accomplished."

Amy came back in, holding a malfunctioning little silver device in her hand. "And I am going to want to examine this when we get back."

"Thanks for grabbing me by the way," Darien said, pointing at Amy.

"Huh?" Amy looked at Darien, confusion evident on her face.

"You know...when Malachite threw me off the fire escape, you...you grabbed me?" he said.

Amy shook her head. "Sorry, wasn't me."

He looked at Lita. "Couldn't have been you...so..."

"Actually, Mask, about that." Artemis interrupted. "There was a rather...strange blip on the radar a couple minutes ago, and I saw it as well on your video feed. I thought it was a glitch, but you can have a look at the logs when you get back."

"Uh-huh," Darien said slowly.

"What happened?" Amy asked.

"Once again, Amy...you're going to want to see it for yourself," Darien said. "Now let's get out of here before human security works up the courage to come up here."


	25. Positional Play

Chapter 25: Positional Play

"

AN: Churned this out pretty quickly because I've had it planned for quite some time. This more of a 'put things in place' chapter than anything else, which are unavoidable from time to time, but it is possible to find a few key things subtly blooming here.

"

**The Flamingo Room 11A, July 29th, 12:12 PM**

"Well that's obviously ridiculous!" Serena buzzed in through the phone connection. "I was here fighting the negaverse, I have multiple witnesses who will vouch for that."

"I understand that, Serena," Amy replied, looking at the screen inside her suitcase laptop. "And yet, the evidence is overwhelming. Darien saw you here, and the recording from his camera indicates that you were here. You popped up on radar here for a few seconds, something that Artemis saw and the logs affirm. You disappeared on the radar back over there for a few seconds at the same time you appeared here. And, of course, you admit that you felt like you had appeared in Vegas for a few seconds."

"And this is Amy saying all this," Lita added, leaning over Amy's shoulder and looking at the screen. "Yeah, Serena, I'm looking at Darien's video feed right now, that's either you or a long lost identical twin sister."

"Yeah, I'm looking at the video too," Serena said. "It's me, it lines up with what I remember, but...I sure didn't do it. I wasn't even thinking about Vegas."

"Well, just keep thinking about it, we'll discuss it in better detail when we get back. Something's clearly changed with you, and I think it would be beneficial for us all if we could figure it out." Amy said. "We'll enjoy these last few days, keep an eye on the Bellagio, and fly back on the third."

"Alright, talk to you guys later. Have fun," Serena said. The phone connection went dead.

"She's just full of surprises, isn't she?" Lita said, eyes on the frozen frame of the video feed from Darien's camera.

"I'm rather...accustomed to the bizarre after all this time," Amy admitted.

Lita looked over Darien, who was seated on the foot of the bed, eyes closed and a tiny smile on his face.

"Hey, what do you wanna go do?" she asked.

Darien didn't reply nor acknowledge her question.

"Darien?"

His eyes opened and he looked over at Lita. "Sorry, I was just...imagining Serena with an identical twin sister."

"Eugh!" Lita recoiled away from him in disgust.

"Yeah." Darien gave a small chuckle. "Let's go check out the pool."

"Good idea." Amy stood up. "And remember, we're seeing _Love_ on the second!"

"Wouldn't forget it," Darien replied. "You know, this is kind of going to be the first time I can remember actually celebrating my birthday."

"Birthday?" Amy asked.

"The third," Darien said. "I mean, obviously it doesn't perfectly line up, and...of course, sometimes I'd get a few things on my birthdays, maybe go to a baseball game or something, but this is the first time I've really...done something big that I can remember."

"Oh, well...good." Amy nodded. "You go on ahead, we'll be right down."

Darien got up and quickly walked over to the door, departing the room. The moment the door was closed, Amy picked up her cell phone and started tapping input into the screen.

"What's up?" Lita asked, eyes on Amy.

"I suspect a certain...someone might be interested to know that Darien will be returning home on his birthday," Amy said impishly. She set the phone back down. "And what's wrong with Darien imagining Serena having a twin sister?"

Lita pursed her lips. "Uh...Amy, I'm pretty sure he meant imagining Serena..._with_...a twin sister."

Amy bit her lower lip, eyes darting about in thought.

Finally, after a few seconds, her face went a dark crimson and her eyes went wide.

"Ew!"

"

**Lita's Apartment, August 3rd, 6:23 PM**

"_I looook at you allll, see the loooove that's there sleeping...while my guitar, gently weeeeps_."

Darien quickly tossed the salad up with the two large red scoops, mixing the assorted veggies together. Behind him, Lita was pulling massive pieces of meat off of a makeshift grill on her stovetop with a pair of tongs, placing the slabs onto a broiler pan. Both were sporting slight tans from their time so close to the equator.

"_I looook at the floor, and I seeeee it needs sweeping...still my guitar, gently weeeeeps."_

"Good show I assume?" Raye asked, laying down on the floor in the living room, wearing brown short-shorts and a white tanktop.

"Oh, the best!" Lita said. "Wish you could have been there."

"One day," Raye said.

"You know, this is absurd," Amy said, seated at the counter, wearing similar light clothing and bearing a light tan of her own, watching Lita lift the broiler pan up and bring it over to the oven. "You had to travel thousands of miles for work, you just flew back into town...Serena, Raye and Mina should be cooking dinner for _you_! At worst, we should be going out to eat!"

"Come on Amy, you know me," Lita said, beckoning over to Darien. He came over and pulled the oven door open. "I want to relax, and nothing relaxes me more than preparing london broil."

"Ooooohhhh," Raye moaned as the wave of heat from the oven spread through the room. "The one thing that could make it hotter."

"Yeah," Darien agreed. "Barely need to put that thing into the oven, could almost leave it on the counter and it'd cook."

Lita placed the large pan into the oven, pushing it into the back of the chamber, and Darien closed the door.

"Oh, and Lita..." Darien pointed around the kitchen. "Is this saltillo tile?"

"Yeah," Lita admitted begrudgingly.

"Girl, you gotta redo this kitchen," Darien said.

"Yeah, it's...it's really porous," Lita said.

"And mexican whorehouse-y," Darien added.

The front door swung open, Serena and Mina walking in, each carrying a large plastic bag. Mina quickly ran over to the fridge, opening the freezer door and throwing her bag in.

"Alright, we've now got plenty of ice cream for later!" Mina announced, gratefully standing in front of the open freezer for several seconds. "Which we're certainly going to need, Christ on sale."

"Definitely," Serena agreed, opening her bag and withdrawing a large giftwrapped jar. She went over to Darien and tossed it up in the air, allowing him to catch it. "Happy birthday."

"Eh?" Darien stared at the package for several seconds, blinking stupidly.

"You're supposed to open it," Serena said, patting him on the back. "You know. Undo the wrapping paper?"

"Uh, Serena, it's...it's fine, I don't really—"

"Well, I already lost the receipt, so either you take it or I throw it away," Serena said quickly.

Darien glanced over at Serena. "W-well, thank you, but...I already got to see Cirque De Soleil for my birthday, and technically, you got that for me, given that...you're the reason we have that money in the first place, so—"

"Darien, just open it!" Lita said.

Darien looked at the wrapped parcel. "How'd you even know? I don't remember telling—"

"Amy texted me," Serena said.

"Oh, Amy, you...you didn't have to do that—"

"Gosh, it's like pulling teeth with you," Amy chided. "Just open it and accept it."

Finally, Darien slid his thumb underneath the tape on the crease and unwrapped the gift. It was a massive jar filled with foiled wrapped treats. Frangos, specifically.

"Andrew said they're your favorite," Serena said as Darien looked the jar over.

"They are," Darien said. "Wow, this is a lot...thanks, Serena." He looked at Lita. "Can I stick this in the fridge?"

Lita nodded, and Darien quickly went over to open up the chilled chamber. He bent down to look for a space.

"Come on, Darien. New phase in your life. You only get one birthday a year, real friends don't let that day pass by without at least acknowledging it." Raye said, still laying down on the ground. "You can open my gift later."

"Alright, cool. Thanks." Darien closed the fridge door. "As long as it's not a sweater or something, I think I'd puke looking at heavy clothes right now."

"Yeah, pretty boiling," Serena agreed. A playful little smile appeared on her lips. She pointed at Darien. "Hey, you should take your shirt off."

"Huh?" Darien stared at Serena.

"Yeah, it's hot, you should take your shirt off," Serena repeated.

"Uh...that's okay, no thanks," Darien said uneasily as Lita brought the large bowl of salad over and started distributing it into little bowls on the counter.

"No, come on, take your shirt off," Serena goaded, coming over and grabbing at the bottom of the shirt and tugging it.

"Serena, no, that's...I don't need to—"

Suddenly, in a blur of motion that Darien could barely register, his white tanktop was pulled up over his head, his limp arms getting yanked above his head to allow it to slip off. He stood there, stock-still for a second, looking down at himself.

"How'd you—"

He turned around, Serena having moved behind him to pull it off. She flashed a couple of dull colors and transformed back into her regular human form, holding Darien's shirt in her right hand.

"Oh." Darien smiled. "Okay, funny, give me that back." He held his right hand out towards her.

"Nope." She quickly sidestepped out of the kitchen, backing away from him, holding the garment behind her back.

Darien advanced on her. "Come on, seriously, give me that."

"Nuh-uh," she said, shaking her head, backing towards the couch across the room.

"Serena, give it back," Darien insisted, still smiling, slowly walking towards her.

"You're not my supervisor," she replied haughtily.

"Yes, that would be me."

Serena looked behind her at the small table in front of Lita's couch. Luna and Artemis were laying down in the middle of it, Luna looking up at her expectantly.

"Now please give Darien his shirt back," Luna asked.

As soon as the words were out of Luna's mouth, Serena zipped out of the room and out the front door, creating a sudden breeze. Two seconds later, she sprinted back in, turning back into her human form as she screeched to a halt in front of Darien. Her hands, now empty, were held out in front of her.

"What shirt?" she asked.

Darien's shoulders sagged slightly, but he still couldn't stop smiling.

"Hey...hey Luna," he bent down next to the coffee table, looking at the black cat. "Are you head of human resources for the scouts?"

Luna looked around the room silently.

"I mean, I know you're a cat, but...you're H.R., right?" Darien asked, suppressing laughter.

"Oh, definitely," Artemis nodded. "She's good at it too. She's such a great listener."

Luna rolled her eyes.

"Okay, well...I need to file a sexual harrassment complaint against Serena," he said, grinning. "Because...because she took my shirt and won't give it back!"

Luna shook her head. "Sometimes I _really_ miss the Silver Millennium."

"Hey, Luna." Artemis looked over at his fellow feline, Luna turning to meet his gaze. "Why do you hate fun?"

Luna stared at Artemis for several seconds, then finally gave a little sigh before turning back to Darien.

"Well...the incident took place outside the company facility, so I'll have to get specialized paperwork to file the report."

"

**Lita's Apartment, August 3rd, 6:48 PM**

"So anyway, Serena, I've wanted to make you a little offer." Darien looked over at her.

The group was gathered around the dinner table, all enjoying the fruits of Lita's entire day of labor preparing the meat dish. Darien still hadn't gotten his shirt back, having given up on that until he had to leave later.

"Shoot," Serena replied.

"Well, obviously it's still...five weeks away or whatever, but...I was thinking. School. Now, don't take this to be some sort of backhanded...insult at you or anything like that, I swear I don't mean it like that. But...I was thinking, would you like me to help you with preparation for the school year?" Darien asked.

"Preparation for the school year?" Serena repeated. "That's a thing?"

"I approve!" Amy said loudly. "Serena, this school year represents a chance for you to hit the reset button on your...academic follies of the past, and I believe you're well-positioned to do just that. This might help even more, great idea Darien. Serena, please accept."

"Hm." Serena nodded. "So, Amy...you wouldn't be offended if—"

"Not at all, Serena," Amy interrupted. "Perhaps Darien will be able to reach you more than I have."

"What do you have in mind?" Serena asked, grabbing her fork again and started to slice a piece of meat off of her slab.

"Well...and if you're not comfortable with this, we can do something else, but...what if you just came by my place, few times a week, and we'll just start working through some stuff, help...prepare you for what's coming. And then school starts, and of course I'll be busy, but maybe we can still...make time here and there, we'll see how it goes." Darien nodded. "If...if you want to, of course."

Serena glanced about for a moment, pulling a piece of meat away from her plate and putting it in her mouth. "Well...as much as I'd rather not be seen in that dreadful apartment—"

"Actually, I've really been working on improving that," Darien said. "Really."

"...well, okay, we can try that," Serena relented. "Sure, why not?"

"Wow." Lita stared at Serena blankly. "Did...did Serena just agree to take on extra studying during the summer?"

"Yeah," Mina agreed. "Talk about the _danger zone_—"

"Button it!" Serena said, pointing over at Mina. "Alright, Darien, we'll do that."

"Excellent!" Amy enthused. "I'd recommend you two start as soon as possible, we should have at least a few weeks before Malachite can gather the resources to enact a new plan." She cleared her throat. "Now, Serena, I didn't want to talk about business too much tonight, but I'm curious...has anything occurred to you in the last few days?"

Serena bit her inside cheek, looking down at her plate. "Well...nothing concrete. Only one thing strikes me, but it doesn't really make any sense—"

"Go ahead," Raye insisted. "Whatever it is, just say it. We need a little bit of a lead, even if it ends up being nothing."

"Well...I mean, this is just sort of a vague feeling I have, it certainly can't be proven. I guess things started happening right after my cast came off, at least externally, but really...that day I came back here for the first time after getting out of the hospital, that was when things really started to feel different. Like...I just felt more comfortable."

"Go on," Amy prompted.

"Like...I just sort of felt, relaxed, and not because of the painkillers," she continued. "Things got settled. I felt...I don't know, like things were settling into place." She shrugged. "Can't prove anything with something like that, so I know that doesn't really help, but that's all I got. I've been much more at ease ever since that day, and ever since then, these things have been happening. Something just started to feel familiar about...us, the group. Like this was how it was...supposed to be."

"Hm." Amy slipped a carrot slice into her mouth. "Okay, I suppose that makes some sense, we'll file that away and revisit it when the opportunity presents itself, and in the meantime be grateful for it. Now, let's all take tomorrow off, I need a day to fight off this jet lag, and then we'll try to come up with a counter to this new negaverse invention." Suddenly, she looked over at the corner of the room, finding a large bookbag. "When you're done eating, Darien, I have my own birthday present of sorts for you, you'll want to go have a look."

Darien, curious, stood up from the table and looked over at the large red bag. "O-oh, I'm actually pretty much done, can I—"

"Go right ahead," Amy said.

Darien quickly went across the room, over to the bag, and grabbed the two handles. He pulled the bag apart, revealing a rectangular metal lockbox. Darien's eyes widened as he pulled it out onto the floor.

"Had you forgotten the finer details of our arrangement?" Amy asked.

"Oh, totally," Darien said sarcastically. "I completely forgot that you literally had my balls in a vice."

"Figuratively," Amy corrected.

"Just didn't want to...bring it up. Not exactly the...smartest thing I've ever done, signing this." Darien reached into the bag and pulled out a small silver key. "Actually, maybe the...second dumbest."

"In light of recent developments, I think it's time we trusted each other without blackmail." Amy nodded as Darien stuck the key into the slot on top of the box. "Code is niner-three-eight-nine."

Darien tapped the four digits into the small keypad on top of the box, then turned the key. There was a click, and then his cell phone started to vibrate. He ignored it, smiling as he popped the lid of the box open to reveal a stack of papers.

"You may review the documents to make sure they are all present, if you feel the need to do so," Amy added as Darien picked the open box up.

"Hey. You said it's time we trusted each other, didn't you?" Darien said, carrying the box over to the sink. "I'll spare you all the additional heat of me setting this on fire..."

He set the box down on the counter, turned the faucet on full blast, and then placed the stack of papers underneath the stream.

"This should do nicely." The papers were rapidly soaked in water, the ink mixing together, making the writing illegible and the paper useless. "I'm free!"

"

**Headquarters, August 5th, 9:33 AM**

Amy carefully opened the little silver box, having finally figured out where the contraption came apart. It was held together by strong magnets, a rather futuristic design that she found aesthetically appealing, and the cover could only be removed by causing the attraction between the two plates to discharge.

"Got it!" she shouted proudly. Darien and Serena, sparring over on the mat, stopped and looked over at her. Raye, Lita, and Mina, who were gathered around and watching the two go at it, also turned around. "Although..."

The inside was surprisingly simple. There was a single tab that looked like a microchip, and a bulb filled with a thick liquid that took up basically the entire device. The microchip was positioned at the base of the bulb, the tip just touching what looked to be the lid.

"Hm, very...simple design," Amy muttered. Everyone came up behind her to look down at the opened device.

"Well, easier to examine I guess," Raye said.

"If I had to hazard a guess..." Amy examined the components. "The chip sends some sort of...activation current through the liquid, which causes the effects on our powered forms. Highly flawed design, Malachite was no doubt hoping that he'd be able to get all of us at once. It's elementary to fry the chip, which deactivates the entire device."

"So much for cunning," Darien commented.

"If he were to apply these devices in a more practical way, they'd be very deadly," Amy mused. "We need to try concocting something that can reverse it without just pulling it off, perhaps something that prevents it from working in the first place." She grabbed the bulb of liquid and slowly eased it out of it's slot inside the device. "I need to carefully examine this liquid, I'm going to need the proper tools."

"Right, so, we need to go buy some...chemistry stuff?" Lita asked.

"Perhaps," Amy replied. "But for now, I just need basics. I have a kit at home we can use. Darien, if you would be so kind, might we drive over there and pick it up before my mother gets home? After that, you and Serena are free to go to your place and begin going over school things."

"Sure thing." Darien stood up from the couch.

"

**Headquarters, August 5th, 10:20 AM**

Amy quickly slipped a pair of latex gloves on her petite hands, then pulled a collection of sealed beakers and test tubes out of a plastic garbage bag in front of her, setting them down on the table. Most of the small containers contained various colored fluids.

"Memory lane," Amy muttered quietly to herself, Darien looking over her shoulder.

"What's all this?" he asked.

"The remains of my last experiment," she answered. "Seven years ago."

"You didn't clean this stuff out?" he asked, picking up a beaker and holding it up to the light.

"I couldn't bring myself to do it," she said. She grabbed another plastic garbage bag and started carefully pulling out some small plastic bottles with faded labels.

"Why? What was your last experiment?" Serena asked, she and the three others crowding around her.

She paused, giving a tiny sigh, before turning around and pointing at Serena. "You can't laugh, okay?"

"Of course." Serena nodded.

"None of you, okay? Promise you won't laugh."

"Amy, nobody's going to laugh, you can tell us," Lita insisted. "Go on."

Amy turned back to the table, picking up another garbage bag and setting it down on the table without opening it. "When I was seven, my parents were going through their divorce, and I was really lonely. I had a hard time making friends at school, so...I...tried to...grow a friend." She bowed her head.

Darien glanced away. "That's...wow, I'm really sorry," he said sympathetically. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Why would anyone laugh at that?"

"Well, more accurately, I tried to clone a friend," Amy added. "But I didn't have access to the equipment I would need for actually cloning someone, so I had to make do with trying to grow a clone. And I wanted it to be someone I felt I could...connect with and relate to, so..."

"So..." Serena goaded.

"Remember, you said you wouldn't laugh," Amy reminded her. "Please don't laugh."

"Yes, Amy, I won't laugh, cross my heart," Serena said comfortingly.

"I...I tried to clone Leonardo Da Vinci," she said meekly, going red.

"Holy crap," Lita muttered, looking the beakers and tubes over. "I—"

"I know it's stupid, okay!" Amy said, turning around to glare at Lita. "I was seven, and really lonely!" She bent down to pick up a final garbage bag and opened it. "The experiment ended in...total failure, and I haven't used this stuff since." She pulled out a small notebook from the bag. She clutched it to her chest. "I spent eighty-three days trying."

"Huh," Raye quietly mused. "If I may ask, how did you get your hands on Da Vinci's D.N.A.—"

Amy reached up and pressed her index finger to Raye's lips, silencing her. "Shhhhhhhhh." She glanced around furtively. "You don't want to know," she whispered.

"So, that notebook..." Darien pointed at it timidly.

"My lab report journal, yes," she said, reluctantly handing it to Darien. "I documented everything."

Darien started flipping through the pages. "Well, Amy, I can absolutely relate to being...lonely, so..." he trailed off, eyes widening with each page of the book he looked at. "Holy crap!"

"Yes, Darien, it's true, once upon a time I really was that foolish," Amy moaned. "Laugh at me if you really feel you can't contain yourself, I...deserve it."

"N-no!" Darien gasped, slowly turning one of the pages of the notebook out towards the group. It had a bunch of handwritten text on it and a couple of polaroid pictures taped inside. The pictures showed what appeared to be bloodied chunks of meat in petri dishes. "It's just...it looks like you kinda...got really freaking far!"

"No I didn't," Amy lamented. "Most of the specimens died within two minutes." She hung her head. "One of them survived two weeks and was almost six inches long when he died. Really thought I had something with him."

Darien stared at Amy with an open mouth and wide eyes, taking an unconscious half-step back from her. "Uh..."

"Even if he did survive, I doubt he would have had even...sixty percent of Da Vinci's intellect," she sulked. "Stupid childhood science experiment, nothing more."

"But most of us just pull an egg out of the fridge and sit on it to see if we can get it to hatch!" Lita said. "You—"

"Whoa!" Darien gasped, staring at one of the pages. "What happened to _this_ one?!" He turned the notebook towards Amy, showing her a picture of a meat blob with a massive green growth emerging from the left side.

"I messed up the ratios of fluid on him," Amy mourned. "He would have had a giant, malignant tumor on his neck. I had to put him out of his misery." She reached forward and touched her right hand on the picture, bowing her head and closing her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Leonardo number twenty-three."

"W-wait," Darien said, pointing at the one sealed garbage bag. "So, that bag, in there, that's—"

"Leonardo's one through twenty-seven and twenty-nine through thirty-seven, yes," Amy finished. "Twenty-eight's corpse kept expelling nerve gas at random intervals, I had to get rid of him."

"You...kept them, all this time?" Darien questioned, staring at the bag.

"I got attached to the little guys," Amy said glumly. "I didn't have the heart to throw them out. So I just...sealed the bag really good, stuck it in the back of my closet, and sprayed it with febreze every week. But I...think it's time." She looked around at the table. "Well, thanks for the help. You and Serena can go study, I'll take care of all this for now."

"Wait wait," Mina said, pointing at the garbage bag. "_What's_ in there?"

Amy frowned glumly. "Oh, just...shattered dreams...and a young girl's crippling loneliness," she said wistfully, closing her eyes.

Mina pulled the mouth of the bag open slightly. "Whew! It smells like rotten meat," she said, waving her hand in front of her nose.

Amy looked up at the bag. "Also yes."

"

**Darien's Apartment, August 5th, 2:45 PM**

"The best thing you can do is talk to your teacher about his or her particular opinion, this is something that varies pretty wildly," Darien said. He was sitting upside down on his couch, head hanging a couple inches above the ground, legs propped up on the couch backrest. "I know that's not the most useful answer, but it's for the best. Obviously, Judaism is a religion, there's not much disputing that, it's...a belief system and culture that you can choose to subscribe to, but some treat it as if it's an ethnicity too. Which is occasionally contradictory. Like, you have the whole Atheist Jew thing."

"Atheist Jew?" Serena repeated. She was seated on the fat chair adjacent to the couch, a tablet in her lap.

"Yeah, you've heard of that?" Darien looked over at her. "It's basically...you were born into a Jewish family and might even observe Jewish culture, but you don't have the Jewish faith. That implies it's something your born with, like a nationality. Kinda confusing, because that implies it's not something you can decide to join."

"So...there's no wrong answer?" Serena asked.

"Depends on the teacher," Darien answered. "Technically, Judaism is a religion that people can choose to partake in or not. It's not like all white people are Christian automatically. But the whole Atheist Jew thing is pretty big, so it's worth it to ask how the teacher feels." Darien cleared his throat. "Billy Joel's an Atheist Jew. Woody Allen. Rob Reiner. Stanley Kubrick. Ayn Rand."

"I kind of like the shades of grey though," Serena mused. "Something definite like math, not really my thing, I like the debatable nature of things like this."

"In my opinion...Judaism is a religion and Israeli is a nationality, but not everyone feels that way." Darien slowly rotated around so he was laying down on the couch.

"Man, you've got all this stuff...memorized?" Serena looked over at him.

"Mostly," Darien replied. "I remember religious studies, honestly this stuff is pretty easy. I've always taken academics pretty seriously." He gave a tiny sigh. "For a guy like me, it's...the only way out. And I got a pretty good memory for this sort of thing. Not that the stupid child psychologist at the orphanage encouraged it."

"Huh?" Serena raised an eyebrow.

"When I was like...eight, I was just...memorizing stuff. I remembered...all the American Presidents, the Kings of England, Japanese Emperors, Latin phrases, the periodic table...lots of stuff, could recite it backwards and forwards. The quack who worked at the orphanage thought I had autism. Jackass."

Serena blinked a couple times, giving a small frown.

"Sorry, sorry, off topic, I...anyway, what else do you got?"

"Uh..." Serena looked down at her tablet screen, quickly trying to shake off what Darien had just said.

"Love the tablet, by the way," Darien commented.

"Yeah, my parents got me a bunch of stuff after the injury." Serena ran her finger on the screen. "Uh, French."

"Oh, nice," Darien sat up. "French."

"Yeah, language of love." Serena nodded. "Could be fun."

"Let's stop for a second," Darien got to his feet, cracking his back to the left and right. "Been at it for awhile."

"I struggle enough with my native tongue sometimes," Serena mused quietly. "This is gonna be tricky."

"You'll do fine." Darien gave a small smile. "Hm. French. Hey, Serena, you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?"

"Royale with cheese," Serena quickly answered, leaning back in the cushioned chair and closing her eyes. "Because of the metric system."

"Wow." Darien nodded. "Nice."

"Mmhmm. Quick question, Darien, while we're taking a break." Serena's eyes popped back open. "The stuff Amy's set up, with the money, it's...all in your name, correct?"

"Yep," Darien answered, rolling his shoulders back. "Everything's tied to me."

"Okay." Serena nodded. "And...do you understand everything she's set up? Are you...aware of everything she's done?"

"Pretty much had to be," Darien replied. "And recently, she's been laying out everything for me in detail. You know, if something...happens to her, I could take over, everything doesn't have to just go to waste. So, yeah...pretty sure I know everything she's got."

"So...you could...do things with the money on your own, without Amy being involved?" Serena asked.

Darien thought for a moment, sitting back down on the couch. "I mean, she'd know as soon as the money was out of the account, she watches all that closely, but...yeah, I can access the accounts and do things without her. Why?"

Serena looked around the room for a second, then slowly sat up. "So, Darien, here's the thing. Obviously, this could be a couple...months down the road, I'm just trying to get a feel for my options, but...I want to reward the team when we take down Malachite. Get them something nice."

Darien shrugged. "Okay, I...think Amy might understand that, you could probably talk to her—"

"I kind of want it to be a surprise for them, including her," Serena interrupted. "So...I was wondering if I could go through you instead."

Darien glanced about. "You sure that's a good idea? I mean, in my experience, Amy kind of likes...being in control of things."

"Oh, absolutely. But this isn't exactly Amy's specialty," Serena said. "I'd rather just handle it without her. You know, of course...I love Amy, obviously, but I just don't think she's big on the whole rewarding thing. She tries, of course, but...after we killed Zoicite, she did the Cheesecake Factory and I dragged her kicking and screaming to the carnival thing. It was a nice thing for her to do, but I want to do more when Malachite goes down."

"We didn't kill Zoicite," Darien chuckled. "_You_ did."

"Well, yeah, but still—"

"And...I guess I helped a little," Darien added.

"I'm just thinking...bigger than that, maybe bigger than Amy's comfortable with. And that's fine, but it wouldn't be fair for her to get to have final say in how we handle that. If it's you doing it...she understands that you're very smart, she knows you're capable of smokescreening purchases and not compromising us, same way she does it, she'll accept it eventually. But I want it to be a surprise. And I don't want to stress her out more, she's already got a ton of stuff on her plate right now. School's gonna start up again, all the stuff she does for us...I don't want her to worry about this too. So...if you're okay with it, when the time comes, do you think that's something you can do?"

Darien nodded. "I...suppose so. Shouldn't be a problem. You just...let me know what you're thinking later down the line, I'll take a look at it, and I'll see what I can do. We play it right, Amy won't see it coming, we can give her a nice surprise. It's a nice thought, buying the team a reward, I can get behind that."

"Okay. Thanks. Just...trying to figure out the best way to do it, thank you," she said. "Alright, let's...let's talk a little French."


End file.
